Visits to the UK by overseas residents

Overseas residents’ visits to the UK increased by 2 per cent to 7.4 million

Visits abroad by UK residents

UK residents’ visits abroad increased by 3 per cent to 13.7 million

Mike Saul, Head of Hospitality and Leisure, Barclays Corporate, said:

“International visitor numbers in the UK continue to make the upward journey from what was a very depressed base, while UK travellers are also moving back to more recognisable travel habits post-recession. However, the year on year figures demonstrate just how much the recession has impacted both inward and outbound travel, and how far the industry still has to go.

“On the inbound side, sterling’s relative weakness has fuelled the UK’s appeal, but recent appreciation and worrying economic news coming from the US means this may be something of a short lived trend. London has proved more resilient than the rest of the UK, and the return of the business traveller has been a welcome boost for London hoteliers in particular.

“One trend amongst UK holiday markers that has really bedded in is to make bookings as late as possible, as price conscious consumers continue to exercise caution and look for last minute bargains. UK flight and tour operators have responded to this trend by developing sophisticated capacity control systems, where they can turn the supply tap on and off in an incredibly responsive way in order to adapt to the somewhat fickle tastes of the UK traveller aboard.”

Additional key statistics:

Annually, overseas resident’s visits to the UK decreased by 3 per cent in Q2 2010 compared with Q2 2009 (seasonally adjusted)

Annually, UK resident’s visits abroad decreased by 9 per cent in Q2 2010 compared with Q2 2009 (seasonally adjusted)

Over the same period the purpose of inward visitor numbers to the UK changed as below: (not seasonally adjusted)
Holiday visitors decreased by 2 per cent
Business visitors increased by 4 per cent