Table of contents
- Correction
- Latest trends
- About the estimates
- Visits to the UK by overseas residents
- Visits abroad by UK residents
- Other overseas travel and tourism releases
- Background notes: publication tables
- Background notes: definitions
- Background notes: purpose groupings
- Background notes: sample methodology
- Background notes: accuracy of the results
- Background notes: important change in IPS sampling
- Background notes: changes to the IPS in 2009
- Background notes: further statistics and other analyses
- Background notes
- Methodology
1. Correction
14 August 2015, 09:30am
A minor error has been identified due to a change in the grouping of purpose codes used in the creation of regional statistics for Overseas Travel and Tourism, Provisional Results, Quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015. This slightly affects the distribution of visits to and spending in UK regions only (Reference Tables 13 and 14). The affected components have been corrected. ONS apologises for any inconvenience.
Back to table of contents2. Latest trends
Compared with the same quarter a year ago, visits to the UK by overseas residents increased by 1.0% to 6.9 million in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015. However, the number of nights spent in the UK, by overseas residents, fell by 1.0%, and the estimated earnings from these visits also decreased by 5.0% to £3.7 billion.
Visits abroad by UK residents during quarter 1 Jan to Mar, 2015 increased by 8.9% to 11.6 million compared with quarter 1 Jan to Mar, 2014. The number of nights spent abroad, by UK residents, rose by 10.8%, and expenditure during these visits increased by 1.8% to £6.8 billion.
Back to table of contents3. About the estimates
Overseas Travel and Tourism quarterly estimates are revised during the processing of the annual data set. The most up-to-date and accurate estimates for previous year’s published quarters can be found in the latest edition of Travel Trends.
The UK Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:
meet identified user needs
are well explained and readily accessible
are produced according to sound methods
are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.
Further information about the estimates:
the sample profile and responses are calibrated to international passenger traffic for the reporting period
estimates are based on interviews conducted when passengers end their visit - therefore any visits commencing in the reported quarter but not completed until later are not included in estimates for the reported quarter
spending associated with visits includes anything spent before, during and after the trip
parts of the report refer to countries visited abroad - it should be noted that if a UK resident visited more than 1 country on a trip abroad, the country recorded as visited in this publication is the country that was visited for the longest period
estimates are subject to sampling error, and confidence intervals are provided to help readers interpret the estimates (see background note: Accuracy of IPS estimates) - further guidance is provided about the quality of Overseas Travel and Tourism estimates
4. Visits to the UK by overseas residents
International visits to the UK by overseas residents have continued to rise in the first quarter Jan to Mar of 2015. An estimated 6.9 million visits were made in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015, this was an increase of 1.0% when compared with 6.8 million visits made during the same period in 2014.
Figure 1: Quarterly change from a year earlier in visits to the UK from overseas residents
Quarter 1 2010 to Quarter 1 2015
Source: International Passenger Survey (IPS) - Office for National Statistics
Notes:
- Throughout this release Q1 refers to Quarter 1 (January to March), Q2 refers to Quarter 2 (April to June), Q3 refers to Quarter 3 (July to September) and Q4 refers to Quarter 4 (October to December).
Download this chart Figure 1: Quarterly change from a year earlier in visits to the UK from overseas residents
Image .csv .xls"Visits to Friends or Relatives" was the most popular reason for overseas residents visits to the UK in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015. 2.2 million visits were made to the UK, an increase of 2.6% when compared to quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2014.
Among all visits to the UK by overseas residents in quarter 1 Jan to Mar of 2015 compared with the same quarter in 2014, business visits to the UK recorded the largest increase of 10.3% from a year earlier. Business visits saw the largest increase in visits from European residents, increasing by 12.8%, while visitors from North American also rose by 4.6%, however, visits from "Other Countries" fell by 6.9% compared to quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2014. The number of visitors to the UK who were visiting on holiday or for miscellaneous reasons both decreased in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015 by 5.2% and 10.4% respectively when compared with the same quarter in 2014.
Visits from residents of Europe rose by 0.6% to 5.3 million in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015 compared with quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2014, while visits from residents of "Other Countries" rose by 0.9% to 0.9 million continuing the upward trend seen in recent years. Visits from residents of North America increased by 4.1% to 0.6 million.
Overall, an estimated total of 47.1 million nights were spent in the UK by overseas residents this quarter, this is a decrease of 1.0% compared to quarter 1 Jan to Mar in 2014. The number of nights spent in the UK by overseas visitors from North America increased by 3.4%, however, for residents of Europe and "Other Countries" the number of nights spent in the UK decreased by 1.7% and 1.1% respectively, in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015.
Overnight visits to London remained broadly the same in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015, however, visits to the rest of England saw an increase of 4.8%. Overnight visits to Scotland decreased by 1.1% while overnight visits to Wales increased by 5.9% when compared to the same period in 2014.
Estimated earnings from all visits to the UK fell by 5.0% from £3.9 billion (quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2014) to £3.7 billion (quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015). Spending by residents of "Other Countries" during their visit to the UK saw the largest decrease in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015, falling by 16.2% to £1.2 billion. Spending by residents of Europe also fell by 0.8% to £2.0 billion, however, spending by residents of "North America" rose by 11.8% to £0.5 billion when compared to quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2014.
Figure 2: Quarterly change from a year earlier in earnings from visits to the UK
Quarter 1 2010 to Quarter 1 2015
Source: International Passenger Survey (IPS) - Office for National Statistics
Notes:
- Throughout this release Q1 refers to Quarter 1 (January to March), Q2 refers to Quarter 2 (April to June), Q3 refers to Quarter 3 (July to September) and Q4 refers to Quarter 4 (October to December).
Download this chart Figure 2: Quarterly change from a year earlier in earnings from visits to the UK
Image .csv .xls5. Visits abroad by UK residents
UK residents made 11.6 million visits abroad in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015, an increase of 8.9% when compared to the same quarter in 2014. Visits to Europe and "Other Countries" increased by 10.6% and 7.4% respectively, however visits to North America fell by 5.8% when compared to quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2014.
Figure 3: Quarterly change from a year earlier in visits abroad by UK residents
Quarter 1 2010 to Quarter 1 2015
Source: International Passenger Survey (IPS) - Office for National Statistics
Notes:
- Throughout this release Q1 refers to Quarter 1 (January to March), Q2 refers to Quarter 2 (April to June), Q3 refers to Quarter 3 (July to September) and Q4 refers to Quarter 4 (October to December).
Download this chart Figure 3: Quarterly change from a year earlier in visits abroad by UK residents
Image .csv .xlsHoliday visits continue to be the main purpose for UK visits abroad. In quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015, there were 6.4 million holiday visits, which was an increase of 11.8% compared to the same quarter a year ago. Visits to friends or relatives increased by 13.7% in this quarter, compared to the same period in 2014, however, business visits fell by 5.5%.
In quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015, UK residents spent 123.7 million nights abroad, this was an increase of 10.8% compared with quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2014. The rise in visits to Europe is reflected in the increase in nights spent in Europe by UK residents, up 15.3% during quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015. 8.0 million nights were spent in North America in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015, a fall of 0.2% compared with quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2014. Nights spent in "Other Countries" also saw a rise of 7.5% in this quarter.
UK residents spent £6.8 billion during visits abroad in quarter 1 Jan to Mar 2015, an increase of 1.8% compared with £6.7 billion spent in the same period of 2014. Expenditure in Europe rose by 7.4%, however spending in North America and "Other Countries" decreased by 2.5% and 4.1% respectively.
Figure 4: Quarterly change from a year earlier in expenditure from UK residents visits abroad
Quarter 1 2010 to Quarter 1 2015
Source: International Passenger Survey (IPS) - Office for National Statistics
Notes:
- Throughout this release Q1 refers to Quarter 1 (January to March), Q2 refers to Quarter 2 (April to June), Q3 refers to Quarter 3 (July to September) and Q4 refers to Quarter 4 (October to December).
Download this chart Figure 4: Quarterly change from a year earlier in expenditure from UK residents visits abroad
Image .csv .xls6. Other overseas travel and tourism releases
Further analysis of overseas travel and tourism trends are provided in the publications:
Monthly Overseas Travel and Tourism, latest publication April 2015, published June 2015; next release May 2015 to be published on 24 July 2015
Travel Trends, latest publication Travel Trends 2014, published 20 May 2015; next publication Travel Trends 2015, to be published May 2016 - this publication provides more detailed analysis of visits and spending, including analysis by demographics, towns in the UK visited and countries visited by residents of different parts of the UK
Travelpac is a data set which allows users to conduct their own analysis of quarterly and annual data on important variables. The datasets are provided in SPSS and Excel, latest publication Travelpac 2014 published 20 May 2015
note that estimates are subject to revision between the monthly statistical bulletin and the quarterly publication and again when Travel Trends is published - revisions result from more accurate passenger figures being made available, more information about the IPS revisions policy is available in the Quality and Methodology Information
note that, although data by the international passenger survey (IPS) also feeds into the calculation of migration statistics, the overseas travel and tourism publications do not provide any information relating to international migration