The value of tourism in England
Section 1
England’s tourism sector contributes £106 billion to the British economy (GDP) when its direct and indirect impacts are taken into account – and it supports 2.6 million jobs. When only its direct impacts are considered (excluding aspects such as the supply chain, for example), its contribution is £48 billion – supporting 1.4 million jobs.
We are currently re-launching the volume and value statistics; the figures will be updated in due course.
For further information, please contact [email protected] .
England tourism factsheet for 2019
Learn about the contribution of tourism to the English economy in this report, which was updated in November 2020. You can also download the infographic for a visual summary (PDF, 175.33 KB) of the report (PDF 179KB).
Report highlights
- In 2019, British residents spent £19.5 billion on 99.1 million domestic overnight trips in England.
- Overseas visitors to England spent £24.8 billion in 2019, making 36.1 million trips.
- 1.4 billion domestic day trips were taken to English destinations in 2018, with spending totalling £56.5 billion.
- The available accommodation stock census in England showed that in 2016 there were 33,374 serviced accommodation businesses (for example guest houses and hotels) and 31,845 non-serviced accommodation businesses (such as holiday homes, camping and caravan parks).
- There was an average serviced accommodation room occupancy of 78% in 2019, with average bed space occupancy at 55%.
- We estimate there were 5,000 to 6,000 visitor attractions in England – however, it is difficult to measure an exact number as some sites have a different primary purpose but are still visited by tourists (such as places of worship).
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Access the full findings for England tourism factsheet 2019 (2020).docx
View the full findings
You can also watch a webinar to get an overview of the insights from this project at a global level.
Related resources
For more facts and figures about tourism in England, explore our latest intelligence on domestic overnight tourism, day visits, accommodation occupancy and visitor attractions – or browse information about inbound tourism statistics.
