1. Great Britain
Tourism Survey
December 2016

2. Summary of Results GB And England
Headlines
YEAR-TO-DATE (January – December)
In 2016, GB trips were down by -4% to million, compared to million in 2015.
Nights were also down for the year, by -5%.
In the year to December 2016, trips to England were down -3% to 99.3 million from million in 2015.
Nights were down by -5% each.
Context
At the start of December, it was often cold and frosty with fog patches. The middle of the month was more mild. There was also some stormy weather in central and northern Britain. The end of the month turned cold and frosty, especially in the south.
Trips
Nights
-4%
-5%
-3%
-5%
Weather

3. Summary of Results England
YEAR-TO-DATE (Jan–December 2016)
Trip Characteristics
Trips
Nights
PURPOSE
HOLIDAY TRIPS in England from January to December 2016 increased by +2% compared to the same period last year, with 44.7 million trips recorded.
Nights remained unchanged at 147 million.
VISITS TO FRIENDS AND RELATIVES decreased by -9% to 36.9 million, with bednights decreasing by 12%. Non-holiday VFR is down by -24%, and holiday VFR is unchanged.
BUSINESS trips increased for the January to December period, up by +2% to 14.1 million. Nights increased compared to the same period in 2015.
+2% 0%
-9%
-12%
+2%
+5%
TRIP TAKERS
Trips have decreased among all age groups and social grades, except C1.
The biggest increases has been among C1 (+1%) whereas the smallest decrease in age groups was for (-1%) and (-2%)
South East
DESTINATION TYPE
All regions saw an decrease in trips in 2016 except the West Midlands, the South East and the South West
The greatest increase was to the South East (10%)
35-44
45-54
Class C1
-1%
-2%
+1%
+10%

4. Context Other Surveys
Overseas Travel by UK Residents International Passenger Survey
December 2016
JAN - December 2016
Trip
Spend
In December, trips by Brits overseas increased by 6% and the expenditure on those trips increased by +8%.
In the year to date, overseas trips were up by +9%. Expenditure increased slightly less, at 7%.
Other Tourism Surveys
December 16
Room
Bedspace
OCCUPANCY
Room occupancy in England in December increased by +3% compared to 2015 at 63%, while bedspace increased by +1% unchanged at 47%.
October-December 16
Volume
DAY VISITS
The number of tourism day visits in England in the period October – December 2016 increased by +4% compared to 2015, to 377 million
The value of those visits also increased by +11% to £14.6 billion
Attractions
Accomodation
TOURISM BUSINESS MONITOR
Attractions and accommodation businesses reported an increase in visitors for the period from the Christmas and new year period compared to sometime last year.
+6%
+11%
+8%
+7%
+2%
+1%
+3%
+4%
+11% 

5. Headline Data GB and England
Volume (2015 vs 2016)
England a
2015
2016

-18%
-4%
-3% GB a
2015
2016

-17%
-5%
-4%
 % change vs 2015

6. Trips England Volume of trips (millions) (2015 vs 2016) a 
All trips a
2015
2016
Holiday trips
Business trips
VFR trips

-4% 0%
+1%
-9%
-3%
+2%
 % change vs 2015

7. Nights England Volume of nights (millions) (2015 vs 2016) a 
All trips a
2015
2016
Holiday trips
Business trips
VFR trips

-6%
-1%
+7%
-12%
-5%
+0%
+5%
 % change vs 2015

8. Long Term Trends, Year-to-Year England
Holiday Trips
All Trips
Business Trips
VFR Trips

9. Rolling 12 Month Trendlines England
All trips

10. Rolling 12 Month Trendlines England
Trips by purpose (millions)
Holiday trips
Business trips
VFR trips

11. Regional Analysis England
Trip characteristics – region (YTD 2015 vs YTD 2016)
Trips
(Millions)
Nights
North East
YTD
2015
2016

3.84
3.34
-13%
11.38
10.01
-12%
Yorkshire & Humberside
YTD
2015
2016

11.32
9.29
-18%
30.88
27.11
-12%
North West
YTD
2015
2016

13.55
12.00
-12%
36.83
31.20
-15%
East Midlands
YTD
2015
2016

8.02
7.28
-9%
21.76
19.74
West Midlands
YTD
2015
2016

8.83
8.88 1%
20.99
21.89 4%
South West
YTD
2015
2016

19.68
20.39 4%
72.26
73.62 2%
South East
YTD
2015
2016

16.80
18.41 9%
45.60
48.53 6%
London
YTD
2015
2016

12.94
12.10
-7%
30.16
26.34
-13%
East
YTD
2015
2016

9.73
9.48
-3%
28.22
28.75 2%

12. UK Outbound Travel (International Passenger Survey)
Total volume (millions) and spend (£bn)
Trips a
2015
2016
Spend

+6%
+8%
+15%
+7%
+11%
 % change vs 2014

13. Appendix: Domestic Tourism England
Trip characteristics (Year-To-Date: Jan-December 2016)
PURPOSE
Pure Holiday
1-3 nights
+4 nights
VFR (on holiday)
Holiday (total)
VFR
(non-holiday)
(total)
Business
TRIPS
000s
2015
43724
29180
14545
25196
68920
15356
40552
13868
2016
44706
29302
15404
25221
69928
11685
36907
14124
 2% 0% 6% 1%
-24%
-9%
NIGHTS
146492
56492
90000
74456
220947
37222
111678
30129
147046
55181
91897
70229
217276
27174
97403
31559 4%
-2%
-6%
-27%
-13% 5%
Unwtd Trips
5788
3502
2381
3050
8922
1420
4469
1362
REGION
West Midlands
East of England
East Midlands
London
North West
North East
South East
South West
Yorkshire & the Humberside
TRIPS
000s
2015
8831
9734
8022
12938
13554
3842
16804
19683
11320
2016
8875
9484
7283
12099
11995
3337
18407
20394
9292
 1%
-3%
-9%
-6%
-11%
-13%
10% 4%
-18%
NIGHTS
20990
28218
21764
30163
36825
11383
45600
72263
30880
21892
28751
19735
26339
31202
10008
48526
73622
27106 2%
-15%
-12% 6%
Unwtd Trips
882
1020
785
1143
1179
340
1846
2140
939
 % change vs 2015

14. Appendix: Domestic Tourism England
Year to date trip length, spend/night, spend/trip
All Tourism
Holidays
Business
VFR
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Trip
Length
2.94
2.97
2.92
2.95
2.87
3.42
3.40
3.33
3.37
3.35
3.29
2.18
2.32
2.13
2.29
2.17
2.23
2.68
2.75
2.77
2.71
2.64

15. Note about these results:
The GB Tourism Survey is a survey of British residents, in which 2000 respondents are interviewed each week, making a total of 100,000 each year.
Any respondent having taken one or more  overnight trips in the previous 4 week period is asked to describe the details of trips taken. Each year, data from around 17,000 trips is collected, and this is subsequently grossed up to provide population estimates. Full details of the survey methodology can be found at:
On an annual basis, the survey is extremely robust, with a confidence level for England data at +/- 3% at the 95% level for the number of trips and nights measured, and +/- 4% for the expenditure figure.
For shorter time periods and for other subsets of the data such as region or trip purpose, the margin of error is wider – guidance on confidence intervals at national and regional level for annual and quarterly data is provided on the next page.
For any questions about data interpretation, please contact
No part of this publication may be reproduced for commercial purposes without the permission of VisitEngland. Extracts may be quoted if the source is acknowledged.
Users wishing to include results from this survey within a press release should contact Charlotte Sanders in the VisitEngland Press Office for review prior to external release.

16. GB Domestic Tourism: Confidence Limits at the 95% level
TRIPS (millions)
BEDNIGHTS (millions)
EXPENDITURE (£ millions)
Destination:
Single Quarter
Annual
GB Total
4.5%
2.5%
4.9%
3.0%
6.0%
3.6%
England Total
4.8%
2.8%
5.4%
3.2%
6.7%
4.0%
East
13.2%
7.7%
15.5%
9.4%
20.8%
11.6%
East Midlands
13.9%
8.3%
15.8%
17.7%
10.6%
London
14.7%
7.2%
17.3%
9.1%
22.5%
11.0%
North East
19.1%
26.5%
14.3%
27.7%
20.6%
North West
10.5%
6.2%
13.3%
7.4%
8.0%
South East
9.5%
5.7%
13.5%
7.5%
16.5%
South West
8.8%
9.7%
6.3%
11.2%
9.2%
West Midlands
14.2%
8.1%
17.1%
10.0%
18.9%
Yorks & Humb
11.7%
6.9%
16.4%
10.1%
12.0%
Based on Quarter 4