Overseas visits to UK down in April and May

03 September 2019

There were 3.1 million visits to the UK by overseas residents in April 2019 (8% fewer than in April 2018) and 3.3 million visits in May 2019 (6% fewer than in May 2018), the ONS has reported.

Overseas residents spent £1.6 billion on visits to the UK in April 2019 (14% less than in April 2018) and £2.1 billion on visits in May 2019 (1% less than in May 2018).

During the period March to May 2019, there were 9.4 million visits to the UK, which was 5% fewer than the corresponding period a year earlier. Overseas residents spent £5.3 billion in the UK over this period, which was 7% less than the previous year.

Different trends were observed for different areas of the world for this three-month period: there was an increase of 10% in visits from North American residents to 1.2 million, while visits by European residents decreased by 6% to 6.9 million and visits from residents of “other countries” (countries outside Europe and North America) decreased by 7% to 1.2 million.

Considering the reasons for visiting the UK, holiday visits decreased by 6% to 3.8 million for this period, business visits decreased by 5% to 2.2 million, and visits to friends and relatives decreased by 3% to 2.8 million.