The Office for National Statistics have released the 2017 International Passenger Survey (IPS) Regional Data.
Scotland saw an increase in both visits and spend in 2017, with visits up 17% to 3.2m, and spend up 23% to £2.3bn, both reaching record levels. Visits from the USA – Scotland’s largest and most valuable market – grew 35% between 2015 and 2017, with spend increasing by 47% compared to 2012-2014. 58% of visits to Scotland in 2017 were for holidays, while VFR accounted for 25% of visits.
For Wales, visits were on par with 2016 at 1.1m visits, following 4 consecutive years of growth. Despite not continuing this upward trend, visits were 16% greater than in the 3 years to 2017 (2015-2017) compared to the 3 years before (2012 –14). Spending decreased by 17% compared to the record spend achieved in 2016, at £369m in 2017. Half of all visits to Wales were for holidays, with spring and autumn being the most popular seasons to visit.
The North East saw a 1% fall in visit numbers to 556,000, however spending fell by a more considerable 42% to £241m, following record spending in 2016. VFR was the most cited reason for visiting the North East in 2017.
For the North West, visit numbers increased by 11%, reaching a record 3.1m in 2017. This marks the first time that there have been more than 3m visits to the North West in a single year. Likewise, spending reached record levels at £1.6bn, with the most valuable market being the USA, which set a new spending record in 2017 of £143m.
Similarly, in the West Midlands a new record was set in 2017 at 2.3m visits, with these visitors spending a combined £807m in the area. The top recorded travel purpose was business, the highest of all the regions.
Yorkshire performed less well with visits decreasing by 2% in 2017 to 1.3m, however spend was up by 10% to £567m. The USA has been the top market for Yorkshire in the past 3 years for volume and value, with the market increasing by 27% in 2017 to 352,000 visits and spending up 44% on 2016 results at £168m. The main travel purpose for this region was VFR.
In 2017, negative growth of -2% was recorded in the East Midlands for visits at 1.3m, and spending was down £444m. Since 2015, all top 5 markets for this region have been European – Poland, The Irish Republic, Spain, Germany and France. 4 out of 5 visits were for either VFR or business purposes.
For the East of England, visit numbers in 2017 were on par with 2016 at 2.4m, setting a record for the second consecutive year. Spending however fell by 5% to £815m. East of England had the highest proportion of all the regions for VFR visits, accounting for 50% of all visits
Inbound visitor numbers to the South West increased by 3% to a record 2.6m in 2017, yet spending was down 10% on 2016 to £1.2bn, although still 16% higher than 2015. The main recorded travel purposes were VFR and holiday.
2017 was the third consecutive year that the South East hosted over 5m international visits, up 2% from 2016. Spending decreased by 3%, falling to £2.1bn, although for the past 5 years spend has consistently reached over £2bn. One third of visits were during the summer months, predominantly for VFR, with business also a popular purpose accounting for 1 in 5 visits.
London saw a 4% increase in visit numbers in 2017 to 19.8m, accompanied by a 14% increase in spend reaching £13.5bn, both setting new records. Over half of the 2017 visits to London were for holidays, with the USA, France, Germany, Italy and Spain being the capital’s top 5 markets.
The full report can be downloaded from the link below.
