England domestic overnight trips and day visits: subnational data
Section 1
Find the latest domestic overnight and day trip data for regions, counties, local authorities and towns. Data points are based on the Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS) and Great Britain Day Visits Survey(GBDVS) (XLSX, 7.32 MB) and cover the number of domestic trips British residents took, the number of nights and total expenditure.
For further information, please contact [email protected].
Visitation of England counties for domestic overnight trips and day visits (September 2021-October 2023)
In these tables, you will find England counties and their volume and value of domestic overnight trips and day visits. For counties, volume and value data is published using two-year averages. The most recent data is for the two-year period from October 2021 to September 2023. For more information, please see the first tab ‘user guide’ in the Excel file shared below.
The below overnight trip data is based on all places visited on a trip (not just the main place as the previous data), meaning each county visited overnight counts the trip and spend is proportioned to each country based on the number of nights spent in the county.
Please note that due to methodological changes, this data is not directly comparable to data up to 2019.
NOTE: This statistical release contains annual provisional estimates for 2023. This series will now be subject to a methodological review. Following this review, estimates published in this release will change. Please use caution in interpreting or using the provisional figures published here. Please see our Statement on methodological review (PDF, 190.07 KB) for more details.
Report highlights
- For OVERNIGHT TRIPS, based on the annual average of total trips, the top counties were Greater London (18.3 million), Greater Manchester (5.5 million), West Midlands (4.7 million), Cornwall (4.5 million), and Devon (4.4 million).
- For HOLIDAY TRIPS, the top counties were Greater London (4.9 million), Cornwall (2.2 million), Devon (2.2 million), North Yorkshire (2.1 million) and Cumbria (1.8 million).
- For TOURISM DAY VISITS, the top counties were Greater London (174.5 million), Greater Manchester (43.9 million), West Midlands (35.7 million), Hampshire (33.9 million) and Kent (31.8 million).
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GBTS-DVS, County level volume and value, 2 year average Sep2023
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Visitation of England counties for domestic overnight trips and day visits (April 2021 - March 2023)
For counties, data is published as a two-year annual average. The below data is for the two-year period from April 2021 - March 2023. (Please note that due to methodological changes, this data is not directly comparable to data up to 2019.)
Please note: The below data is based on locations of the MAIN place stayed in on their overnight trip.
Report highlights
Counties:
- For overnight trips, based on the annual average of total trips, the top counties were Greater London (14.4 million), Greater Manchester (4.2 million), Cornwall (4.0 million), West Midlands (3.8 million) and North Yorkshire (3.6 million).
- For holiday trips, the top counties were Greater London (3.7 million), Cornwall (2.1 million), North Yorkshire (2.0 million), Devon (1.8 million) and Lancashire (1.8 million).
- For tourism day visits, the top counties were Greater London (150.5 million), Greater Manchester (36.8 million), West Midlands (32.2 million), Hampshire (30.3 million) and Kent (30.2 million).
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GBTS_GBDVS County level tables_Apr 21-Mar 23 data (published 20 October 2023).xlsx
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Visitation of local authorities and other areas for overnight trips (2017 to 2019)
For other geographical areas of England (local authorities, towns, counties and LEP areas), data is published using three-year averages only. The most recent data is for the three-year period from 2017 to 2019.
An introduction to this analysis is also available (Word (DOCX, 272.89 KB) 269 KB).
Report highlights
- On average, there were 12 million trips to London per year from 2017 to 2019.
- These equated to 28 million nights per year for London.
- The annual total spend for these trips to London was £2.9 billion.
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Visitation of local authorities & other areas 2017-2019 (overnight trips).xlsx
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Visitation of local authorities and other areas for overnight and day trips (2017 to 2019)
A combined spreadsheet has been produced for local authorities, including data from both the Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS, domestic overnight trips) and the Great Britain Day Visits Survey (GBDVS, day visits) to create a combined total of all domestic trips to local authorities.
Report highlights
- London experienced 309.3 million visits, with a total expenditure of £13.6 billion.
- Greater Manchester saw 36.8 million visits, with a total expenditure of £2.4 billion.
- Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly recorded 24.9 million visits, with a total expenditure of £874 million.
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Visitation of local authorities & other areas for overnight & day trips (2017-2019).xlsx
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Most visited towns for overnight trips (2017 to 2019)
The most visited towns data is published using three-year averages, listing the most-visited English towns by trip numbers and spend – in total, for holiday trips, and for business trips. The most recent data is for the three-year period from 2017 to 2019.
Report highlights
- The top five most visited towns overall were: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol.
- The top five towns most visited for holidays were: London, Scarborough, Manchester, Blackpool and York.
- The top five towns most visited for business were: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Leeds.
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Most visited towns 2017 to 2019 (overnight trips).xls
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England domestic tourism day visits summary (2017)
This document provides a summary of the number of day trips and spend per day by regions and visitor demographics, for domestic tourism day visits taken in England in 2017.
Report highlights
- England saw a total of 1.5 billion day visits, with 327.5 million visits to London and 231.9 visits to South East England.
- Nationwide, the most popular main activity for day visits was ‘visiting friends or family for leisure’, on a total of 359.8 million visits.
- 896.7 million travelled using their own car, or one belonging to friends or family. 266.4 million used public transport; 19.4 were on an organised coach tour.
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England domestic tourism day visits summary (2017).pdf
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Related resources
- For more facts and figures about tourism in England (including English regions, counties and towns), explore our intelligence on accommodation occupancy, accommodation stock and visitor attractions, or find information about inbound visits and spend.
- Our domestic sentiment tracker is another tracking survey we run to understand domestic intent for short breaks and holidays within the UK (including the English regions) and abroad.
