Travelling In Europe – Trends 2015/2016

International visits to the UK hit record numbers in January, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.  The statistics, show 2.5 million international visits to the UK in the first month of the year, up 6% on January 2015, with visitors spending £1.28bn.

2015 set a record for inbound tourism with 35.8 million visits to Britain, 4% up on 2014. Since 2010 international visits to Britain have risen by 20%, with 6 million more visits in 2015 than 2010.

However this may be set to change in 2016 following the bombings in Brussels last week.  On Wednesday 23 March, VisitBritain overseas staff were asked to feedback on local coverage.  In summary, they found: 

• Consumers in European / short-haul markets are the most anxious about travel with Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands affected along with the USA.
• A portion of the US market have crossed Europe off their list for 2016 after the Brussels and Paris attacks. The attacks are just one of many factors impacting travel demand from the US this year (election, stock market, appeal of non-European destinations).
• Rural destinations outside of London are seen as safe and not affected by terrorist incidents, with feedback that bookings for Scotland are up already this year. Overall negative impact on London is increasing.

Tourism is Britain’s seventh largest export industry and third largest service sector with inbound tourism worth more than £26bn to the UK economy.