Key UK tourism statistics (2025)
- Overseas residents made 40.8 million visits to the UK in 2025 and spent £29.8 billion, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
- Visitors stayed 278.2 million nights in total, an average of 6.8 nights per visit.
- Holidays were the most common reason for a trip (40.8% of visits to Great Britain), followed by visiting friends or relatives (34.8%).
- The United States is the largest market with 5.49 million visits and £7.49 billion of spending, more than twice as much as visitors from France and Germany combined.
- London received 19.3 million visits and £15.8 billion of spending: 52.2% of visits and 54.2% of spending in Great Britain.
- July to September is the busiest quarter, with 29.3% of the year’s visits to Great Britain.
- Visits were 4.3% lower than the 2024 estimate, but ONS advises caution: 2024 combines two different survey methods.
How many tourists visit the UK each year?
Overseas residents made 40.8 million visits to the UK in 2025, spending £29.8 billion. That is close to the 40.9 million visits recorded in 2019, before the pandemic.
Show the data table
| Year | Visits | Spending (£ million) | Nights | Spend per visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 40,857,000 | 28,400 | 289,628,000 | £695 |
| 2024 | 42,601,000 | 31,605 | 290,751,000 | £742 |
| 2025 | 40,787,000 | 29,808 | 278,231,000 | £731 |
The ONS rebuilt the International Passenger Survey in July 2024. The 2025 figures are the first full year on the new method, and the 2024 figures mix the old method (January to June) with the new one (July to December). ONS says comparisons between the two years "require caution" and labels the series official statistics in development, so treat the 2024 to 2025 change as indicative, not as a measured fall.
A visit is a completed trip, not a person: someone who comes to the UK three times in a year is counted three times. Unlike the EU figures on our France and Netherlands pages, these numbers come from a passenger survey at ports and airports, so they include visitors who stay with friends or family.
Why do people visit the UK?
Holidays accounted for 15.07 million visits to Great Britain in 2025 (40.8%) and almost half of all spending (£14.5 billion). Visiting friends or relatives was the second reason with 12.85 million visits.
Show the data table
| Purpose | Visits | Spending (£ million) | Nights | Nights per visit | Spend per visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holiday | 15,066,000 | 14,478 | 85,695,000 | 5.7 | £961 |
| Visiting friends or relatives | 12,852,000 | 6,676 | 126,067,000 | 9.8 | £519 |
| Business | 6,717,000 | 5,607 | 34,093,000 | 5.1 | £835 |
| Miscellaneous | 2,300,000 | 2,408 | 26,884,000 | 11.7 | £1047 |
| All visits | 36,935,000 | 29,169 | 272,738,000 | 7.4 | £790 |
Holiday visitors spend the most per trip (£961). Visitors staying with friends or relatives spend about half as much (£519) because they rarely pay for accommodation, but they stay longest and account for 46.2% of all nights.
How long do visitors stay in the UK?
The average visit to the UK lasted 6.8 nights in 2025 (278.2 million nights across 40.8 million visits). Holiday visits to Great Britain averaged 5.7 nights, business trips 5.1 and visits to friends or relatives 9.8.
These stays look much longer than in the EU accommodation statistics (2.49 nights per arrival in France) because the ONS counts the whole trip, including nights with friends and family, while Eurostat counts each check-in at a hotel or campsite separately.
When do most tourists visit the UK?
July to September is the busiest time to visit Great Britain, with 10.84 million visits in 2025 (29.3% of the year). January to March is the quietest quarter with 7.42 million visits.
Show the data table
| Quarter | Visits | Share of the year |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 (Jan to Mar) | 7,417,000 | 20.1% |
| Q2 (Apr to Jun) | 9,528,000 | 25.8% |
| Q3 (Jul to Sep) | 10,839,000 | 29.3% |
| Q4 (Oct to Dec) | 9,151,000 | 24.8% |
Visits are spread fairly evenly through the year: the quietest quarter still has 68% of the visits of the busiest one. The annual ONS dataset does not break visits down by month.
Where do visitors to the UK come from?
The United States sends the most visitors to Great Britain: 5.49 million visits in 2025, 14.9% of the total. France (3.13 million), Germany (2.85 million) and the Republic of Ireland (2.85 million) follow.
Show the data table
| Country | Visits | Spending (£ million) | Spend per visit | Share of visits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 5,493,000 | 7,489 | £1363 | 14.9% |
| France | 3,135,000 | 1,670 | £533 | 8.5% |
| Germany | 2,847,000 | 1,898 | £667 | 7.7% |
| Republic of Ireland | 2,847,000 | 1,052 | £370 | 7.7% |
| Spain | 2,585,000 | 1,282 | £496 | 7.0% |
| Italy | 1,963,000 | 1,019 | £519 | 5.3% |
| Netherlands | 1,778,000 | 1,045 | £588 | 4.8% |
| Australia | 1,329,000 | 1,524 | £1147 | 3.6% |
| Poland | 1,025,000 | 424 | £414 | 2.8% |
| Belgium | 940,000 | 519 | £552 | 2.5% |
| Canada | 937,000 | 997 | £1064 | 2.5% |
Long-haul visitors are worth far more per trip. An American visit is worth £1363 on average and an Australian one £1147, against £533 for a visitor from France and £370 from Ireland. ONS notes that some Asian markets may appear lower under the new survey design.
Which parts of the UK get the most visitors?
England received 31.0 million visits in 2025 and 81.6% of all overseas spending in the UK. London alone accounted for 19.3 million visits, 52.2% of all visits to Great Britain.
Show the data table: UK nations
| Nation | Visits | Spending (£ million) | Nights | Share of UK spending |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 30,969,000 | 24,313 | 231,925,000 | 81.6% |
| Scotland | 4,175,000 | 3,920 | 31,879,000 | 13.2% |
| Northern Ireland | 3,852,000 | 640 | 5,493,000 | 2.1% |
| Wales | 913,000 | 510 | 6,245,000 | 1.7% |
Show the data table: cities and towns
| City or town | Visits | Spending (£ million) | Nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 19,292,000 | 15,824 | 106,954,000 |
| Edinburgh | 2,377,000 | 1,536 | 11,552,000 |
| Manchester | 1,229,000 | 569 | 6,872,000 |
| Liverpool | 781,000 | 342 | 4,812,000 |
| Glasgow | 693,000 | 362 | 3,843,000 |
| Birmingham | 664,000 | 359 | 5,035,000 |
| Cambridge | 475,000 | 309 | 3,868,000 |
| Oxford | 468,000 | 354 | 3,651,000 |
| Bristol | 434,000 | 230 | 2,769,000 |
Edinburgh is a distant second with 2.38 million visits, followed by Manchester (1.23 million) and Liverpool (0.78 million). Scotland received 4.17 million visits and £3.9 billion of spending. Northern Ireland had 3.85 million visits but only £640 million of spending and 1.4 nights per visit, which points to many short trips.
A single trip can include several places, so visits to individual cities and nations do not add up to the UK total. For the capital in detail, see our London tourism statistics; our tests of Thames river cruises compare the main boats on price and route.
How much do tourists spend in the UK?
Overseas visitors spent £29.8 billion in the UK in 2025, an average of £731 per visit and £107 per night. In 2019 they spent £28.4 billion, or £695 per visit.
Spending is in current pounds and not adjusted for inflation, so the rise since 2019 partly reflects higher prices. The 2019 figure also comes from the old survey design. London took 54.2% of all spending in Great Britain.
How do visitors travel to the UK?
80.9% of visitors to Great Britain arrived by air in 2025 (29.9 million visits). The Channel Tunnel carried 4.28 million visitors (11.6%) and ferries 2.78 million (7.5%).
Sources and methodology
- Visits, spending and nights: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Travel trends: 2025 (published 16 October 2026) and the dataset Travel trends estimates: overseas residents in the UK, 2025 edition, Tables 1, 2, 4, 9 and 17. The 2024 figures are from the 2024 edition of the same dataset (corrected 4 September 2026). Data accessed 14 November 2026.
- 2019: ONS, Travel trends: 2019, from the previous survey design.
- Coverage: UK totals include Northern Ireland. Breakdowns by purpose, quarter, country of residence, mode of travel and town are published for Great Britain only (England, Scotland and Wales), so they sum to the Great Britain total of 36,935,000 visits.
- Method: estimates come from the International Passenger Survey, a sample survey of passengers at ports, airports and the Channel Tunnel. They are official statistics in development and may be revised. ONS does not recommend direct comparisons between estimates from the old survey design (before July 2024) and the new one.
- Why there is no EU comparison: the UK no longer reports to Eurostat, and its survey counts visits rather than nights in tourist accommodation, so the figures are not comparable with our France, Netherlands and Hungary pages.