Leisure and tourism

Tourism to the UK, and UK residents travelling abroad, reasons for travel and money spent. The statistics on UK residents travelling abroad are an informal indicator of living standards.

Spotlight

Overseas travel and tourism, provisional: January to March and April to June 2025

What's in the bulletin?

  • These estimates are published as official statistics in development as we continue to develop and refine our new data collection design and methods implemented in July 2024. This is likely to have led to differences in the estimates compared with those produced using the previous design, the causes of which we are continuing to investigate.
  • Overseas residents made an estimated 7.2 million visits to Great Britain and spent an estimated £4.7 billion in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025.
  • Overseas residents made an estimated 9.3 million visits to Great Britain and spent an estimated £7.9 billion in Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2025.
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Improving our travel and tourism statistics: August 2025 update

An article outlining our progress towards planned improvements to our travel and tourism statistics, including official statistics in development.
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Datasets related to Leisure and tourism

  • Estimates of visits and spending abroad

    Quarterly estimates of visits and spending abroad. Also includes data on nights, purpose, country visited and mode of travel. The Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) versions of this dataset up to 2023 are on a different webpage under the name "UK residents visits and expenditure abroad, quarterly".

  • Estimates of overseas residents’ visits and spending

    Quarterly estimates of overseas residents’ visits and spending. Also includes data on nights, purpose, region of UK visited and mode of travel. Breakdowns by nationality and area of residence are covered. The Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) versions of this dataset up to 2023 are on a different webpage under the name "Overseas travel and tourism, quarterly".

  • Travel trends estimates: UK residents' visits abroad

    Annual estimates of visits and spending by UK residents abroad. Also includes data on nights, purpose, main country visited and mode of travel. Breakdowns by length of stay and nationality are covered. In 2019, new methods were introduced for this dataset. The 2009 to 2019 edition supersedes all previous time series editions of this dataset. We advise against using all editions listed before the 2019 edition.

  • Travel trends estimates: overseas residents in the UK

    Annual estimates of overseas residents’ visits and spending. Also includes data on nights, purpose, region of UK visited and mode of travel. Breakdowns by nationality and area of residence are covered. In 2019, new methods were introduced for this dataset. The 2009 to 2019 edition supersedes all previous time series editions of this dataset. We advise against using all editions listed before the 2019 edition.

  • Travelpac: travel to and from the UK

    Estimates of international visits with details on traveller age and sex, trip purpose, length, and spending. From the International Passenger Survey (IPS).

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Publications related to Leisure and tourism

Statistical bulletins

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Articles

  • Travel trends

    Annual estimates for overseas travel and tourism, including visits, spending, number of nights, and purpose of visit. These are official statistics in development.

  • Young people expect high pay and leisure time from self-employment

    As the number of young people working for themselves continues to rise, analysis reveals a gap between expectations and reality.

  • Overseas travel and tourism, provisional

    Quarterly estimates of visits to the UK by overseas residents, air visits abroad by UK residents and spending estimates by travellers, using the International Passenger Survey and administrative sources of passenger travel covering April to December 2020.

  • Holidays in the 1990s and now

    Since the 1990s, we're going on more holidays... but they're shorter than they used to be. Explore three decades of changing tourism habits.

  • Improving our travel and tourism statistics

    An article outlining our progress towards planned improvements to our travel and tourism statistics, including official statistics in development.

  • Leisure time in the UK

    An article looking at how much leisure time people in the UK take, and how that differs according to various aspects such as age or gender. This analysis gives an insight into the nation’s work-life balance, and also how much people enjoy their leisure time.

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Methodology related to Leisure and tourism

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