Regional Spread of Inbound Tourism Report 2016
28th November 2017
This edition of Foresight looks at the regional distribution of inbound visitors to the UK during 2016, along with nation spread over the longer term.
• This analysis comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) during 2016.
• Further information on visitor characteristics and behaviours from the Discover England Fund can be found here: https://www.visitbritain.org/visitor-characteristics-and-behaviour
• Interactive data visualisations and latest regional data can be found on the VisitBritain website: https://www.visitbritain.org/nation-region-county-data https://www.visitbritain.org/latest-quarterly-data-area •
All figures are based on IPS 2016, unless otherwise stated
The South West Data
Inbound visitor spending in the South West jumped 27% in 2016, visitor number grew by a more modest 5%. Holiday and VFR were the most popular reason for visiting the South West accounting for almost 80% of all visits. Germany was the number 1 generating market in the last 3 years.
After 4 years of growth, the South West welcomed a record 2.5 million visits in 2016.
• Inbound visitor spend has also seen 4 years of growth, reaching a record £1.3 billion in 2016.
• Holiday and visiting friends and relatives were neck and neck as the most popular reasons to visit.
• The South West was the most popular in the summer, amongst international visitors in 2016.
The top 5 destinations across the South West for international visitors were:
#1 Bristol 1.5 million visits
#2 Bath 890,000 visits
#3 Bournemouth 498,000 visits
#4 Exeter 352,000 visits
#5 Cheltenham 281,000 visits