The UK summer seems to have at a last arrived. But how successful will the tourism industry be judged in the UK? It’s predicted tourism visits in the UK will reach 36.7 million for 2016. And since 2010, tourism has been the fastest growing sector in the UK in terms of creating and retaining jobs. And as a country, the UK enjoys excellent global connectivity, with well over 100 countries having direct air connections.

It’s worth unpacking some of the headline tourism facts and figures.

uk tourism

Top tourism facts and figures in the UK

1. Total value – tourism is predicted to continue grow, Britain is forecast to have a tourism industry worth over £257 billion by 2025 and visitors who travel by air tend to spend more per visit than those using other means of transport.

2. Total jobs – by 2015 Deloitte research predicted tourism will be supporting 3.8 million jobs which will be concentrated where there are more visits, so for example, in 2015 there were 18.6 million visits to London, spending £11.9 billion; this represents 54% of all inbound visitor spending, with 40% of visitor nights spent in the capital.

3. Inbound tourism – is considered to continue to be the fastest growing tourism sector, in 2015 36.1 million overseas visitors who came to the UK spent £22.1 billion; in England alone.

4. Total GDP – it’s thought that by 2025 the tourism industry will contribute just fewer than 10% of UK GDP; the top visitor attractions tend to be visitor/heritage centres, farms and wildlife attractions/zoos.

5. Visits to the UK – a survey run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the last recorded 12 months, April 2015 to March 2016 found visits to the UK was 4% higher than the previous 12 months at 36.51 million visits.

6. Average spend per visit – May 2016 had seen the highest value of spending so far in 2016; however, we are still down on May last year – 8% lower at £1.86 billion (ONS); international visitors spend their money on activities such as visiting castles, museums or to explore the countryside or coast.

7. Visits by journey – in the last rolling year (June 2015 to May 2016) visits by journey are broadly split by holiday visits (37%); visits to friends and family (30%); business visits (25%) and miscellaneous visits which can include short term study, shopping, sports events and more (8%) – (ONS).

8. Visits by region – EU15 (member countries by European Union) in the last rolling year was (56%); Other EU (12%); Rest of Europe (6%), North America (11%) and the Rest of the World (15%); the largest uplift in visits by region was from Other EU.

9. Visitor nights – Visit Britain reported the number of visitor nights spent in the UK increased by 3% in 2015 to 273 million nights, with the average number of nights per visit being 7.6.

10. Average spend – in 2015 the average spend per visit in total was £611 and the top three visitor markets are France, USA (the fastest growing market too) and Germany; all valuable sources of income for the UK.

alexandrapatrick provides original, cost-effective strategic marketing services in Kent, UK. alexandrapatrick has particular experience and expertise in digital marketing, copywriting, marketing consultancy and location/destination marketing.

If you’d like to find out more about how we could support your local business needs, email info@alexandrapatrick.co.uk or contact via Twitter.

Tourism visits in the UK are forecast to reach 36.7 million for 2016 and it will have had a welcome boost from Andy Murray’s recent Wimbledon champion win for the second time.

2016 has already been significant for arts with a number of Britain’s literary legends celebrating anniversaries and milestones, including the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl’s birth.

The range of tourism trends in the UK include increased importance of mobile technology, empowering consumers and allowing them to make last minute decisions on a wide range of leisure activities. More recent developments are FOMO, the ‘fear of missing out’ and the rise of the ‘individualocracy’ the demand for control and simplicity are important too.

tourism trends

Top tourism trends in the UK

1. VFR (visiting friends or relatives) – constrained budgets and more life events and greater perception of time pressure will see people maximising their leisure time on VFR trips, aiming to gain a richer experience with their family, creating a new type of holiday in the UK.

2. Active tourism – the desire to be active and healthy is driving an increase in active leisure trips. People do seem to have more active lives in both leisure and holidays; there’s an assumption that we should be active and generation of health conscious older people. People also feel they can ‘de-stress’ through adventure experiences.

3. Skills tourism – this is driven by both cultural capital and desire to acquire new skills. More than half of consumers in England (56%) say that ‘trying new things’ is important to them, and two-thirds (67%) say that art or culture is important to them.

4. Health tourism – health consciousness is driven by increased pressures at work and home, as well as sustained societal focus on wellbeing; the countryside will benefit from health and active tourism; a further point of difference is the perception that modern lifestyles are ‘too easy’ or sedentary so there’s a drive for consumers to push themselves.

5. Rural tourism – the rural destinations is quintessentially English –it’s a unique offer for UK tourism. However, there’s also an apparent divergence in age structures of different regions and geographies, a key trend here is the rapid ageing of rural areas, whereas cities remain relatively youthful.

6. Seaside tourism – some resorts have been unable to compete with a pure beach offer and the more reliable summer weather that some overseas locations can offer has been a threat; yet many resorts have been able to successfully adapt and to re-invent to attract new audiences.

7. Urban tourism – regeneration in many cities and an increase in the number of attractions has propelled the growth of urban tourism; this is crucial for the younger market; time poor and cash strapped younger consumers will look to maximise their leisure spend.

8. Leisure tourism – this has been impacted on the changing shape of the family, the rising number of older people and grandparents’ increasing involvement in childcare, and also in the diverse structures and types of family; the older generation will be generally more affluent and far more leisure focused than previous generations of older people

9. Consumer tourism – England is developing an incredible diversity of product – food, wine, different activities – it will continue to be attractive, and people are taking pride in this – but consumers expect discounts despite the recent economic recovery.

10. Green tourism – is a driver but you have to be selling the experience and the attraction, this is also affected by wider trends such as ever changing work-life balance or time pressure.

In summary, a social trend to watch is that, in three decades time, there will be more than 9 million over 75s in England (twice as many as there are in 2016). Accommodation and travel options that can cater for people with reduced mobility will be in great demand; they’re still keen to go on holiday but potentially reluctant (or unable) to travel far.

alexandrapatrick provides original, cost-effective strategic marketing services in Kent, UK. alexandrapatrick has particular experience and expertise in digital marketing, copywriting, public relations, location/destination marketing, healthcare marketing and marketing consultancy.

If you’d like to find out more about how we could support creating brand marketing for your business, email info@alexandrapatrick.co.uk or contact via Twitter.