Cynnwys
- Main points
- About the estimates
- Changes to overseas travel and tourism publications
- Main trends in figures and charts
- Trends in visits to the UK by overseas residents non seasonally adjusted (Reference tables 1,2,5)
- Trends in visits abroad by UK residents non seasonally adjusted (Reference tables 3,4,5)
- Other overseas travel and tourism releases
- Reference tables definitions
- Exclusions
- Definitions
- Geographical areas
- Purpose groupings
- Sample methodology
- Accuracy of IPS estimates
- Important change in IPS sampling
- Changes to the IPS in 2009
- Special events
- Further statistics and other analyses
- Background notes
- Methodoleg
1. Main points
Visits to the UK by overseas residents rose by 4% to 35.7 million in the 12 months to November 2015 compared to the same period a year earlier, and the amount spent on these visits remained the same.
UK residents made 16.8 million visits abroad in the 3 months to November 2015 compared to the same period a year earlier, an increase of 8%.
The increase in visits abroad by UK residents was reflected in an increase of 7% in expenditure on visits in the 3 months to November 2015 compared to the previous year.
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys2. About the estimates
Overseas Travel and Tourism monthly estimates are revised during the processing of the quarterly dataset and again during the processing of the annual dataset. The most up-to-date and accurate estimates for all published months can be found in the latest edition of the Overseas Travel and Tourism monthly statistical bulletin.
The UK Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:
meet identified user needs
are well explained and readily accessible
are produced according to sound methods
are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.
Estimates contained in this bulletin are produced from responses provided by international passengers arriving in and departing from the UK, sampled on the International Passenger Survey (350.4 Kb Pdf) that we conduct.
This bulletin contains provisional overseas travel and tourism estimates for November 2015. Revised, final estimates for 2015 will be published in Travel Trends, 2015 with the provisional date of 28 April 2016. The monthly overseas travel and tourism estimates are produced using provisional passenger traffic data to inform the weighting process that is then revised for production of the quarterly estimates, and final data is then used in the production of the annual results published in Travel Trends (see background note: Accuracy of IPS estimates). The title of the monthly overseas travel and tourism bulletin was renamed in December 2013 to "Overseas Travel and Tourism, Provisional Results for [Month] 2013" to clarify that the data contained in these bulletins are provisional.
The sample profile and responses are calibrated to international passenger traffic for the reporting period.
Estimates are based on interviews conducted when passengers end their visit. Therefore any visits commencing in the reported month but not completed until later are not included in estimates for the reported month.
The reported spend for visits includes any spending associated with the visit, which may occur before, during or after the trip.
In January 2015 the methodology for treating outliers was improved. For further information please contact the IPS team.
Parts of the bulletin refer to countries visited abroad. It should be noted that if a UK resident visited more than 1 country on a trip abroad, the country recorded as visited in this publication is the country that was visited for the longest period.
Estimates are subject to sampling error, and confidence intervals are provided to help readers interpret the estimates (see background note: Accuracy of IPS estimates). Further guidance is provided about the quality of overseas travel and tourism estimates (404.8 Kb Pdf).
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys3. Changes to overseas travel and tourism publications
The overseas travel and tourism monthly and quarterly bulletins have been updated to provide additional information about the revisions policy used to revise and finalise the estimates. As part of this improvement to the publications, the titles have been changed to indicate that the estimates are provisional. The final estimates, for the overseas travel and tourism data, are published in the annual Travel Trends publication. The first publications to include the additional information are:
"Overseas Travel and Tourism, Provisional Results for October 2013" published on 12 December 2013
"Overseas Travel and Tourism, Provisional Results for Quarter 3, 2013" published on 16 January 2014
4. Main trends in figures and charts
Table 1: Main visit and spending estimates for overseas residents' visits to the UK in 2015
Overseas residents' visits to UK | ||||
Visits (thousands) | % change from year earlier | Earnings (£ million) | % change from year earlier | |
Non seasonally adjusted | ||||
Nov 2015 | 2,580 | -2 | 1,440 | -8 |
Sep 2015 to Nov 2015 | 9,030 | +5 | 5,640 | +2 |
Year to date 2015 | 33,260 | +4 | 20,060 | 0 |
Latest 12 months | 35,680 | +4 | 21,780 | 0 |
Seasonally adjusted | ||||
June | 2,990 | -1 | 1,940 | +4 |
July | 3,020 | +7 | 1,740 | -9 |
August | 2,970 | +3 | 1,770 | -3 |
September | 3,020 | +3 | 1,860 | +3 |
October | 3,170 | +12 | 1,860 | +6 |
November | 2,900 | 0 | 1,730 | -6 |
Source: International Passenger Survey - Office for National Statistics |
Download this table Table 1: Main visit and spending estimates for overseas residents' visits to the UK in 2015
.xls (55.8 kB)
Table 2: Main visit and spending estimates for UK residents' visits abroad in 2015
UK residents' visits abroad | ||||
Visits (thousands) | % change from year earlier | Expenditure (£ million) | % change from year earlier | |
Non seasonally adjusted | ||||
Nov 2015 | 3,950 | +6 | 2,300 | +14 |
Sep 2015 to Nov 2015 | 16,760 | +8 | 10,110 | +7 |
Year to date 2015 | 61,650 | +8 | 36,660 | +8 |
Latest 12 months | 64,840 | +8 | 38,340 | +8 |
Seasonally adjusted | ||||
June | 5,520 | +10 | 3,160 | +9 |
July | 5,760 | +16 | 3,570 | +25 |
August | 5,600 | +11 | 3,240 | +10 |
September | 5,520 | +10 | 3,240 | +7 |
October | 5,500 | +10 | 3,250 | +1 |
November | 5,350 | +6 | 3,380 | +15 |
Source: International Passenger Survey - Office for National Statistics |
Download this table Table 2: Main visit and spending estimates for UK residents' visits abroad in 2015
.xls (55.8 kB)
Figure 1: Overseas residents' visits to the UK and UK residents' visits abroad (seasonally adjusted)
November 2013 to November 2015
Source: International Passenger Survey (IPS) - Office for National Statistics
Download this chart Figure 1: Overseas residents' visits to the UK and UK residents' visits abroad (seasonally adjusted)
Image .csv .xls
Figure 2: Spending by overseas residents in the UK and spending by UK residents overseas by month (seasonally adjusted)
November 2013 to November 2015
Source: International Passenger Survey (IPS) - Office for National Statistics
Download this chart Figure 2: Spending by overseas residents in the UK and spending by UK residents overseas by month (seasonally adjusted)
Image .csv .xls5. Trends in visits to the UK by overseas residents non seasonally adjusted (Reference tables 1,2,5)
The number of visits to the UK by overseas residents in November 2015 was 2.6 million, a decrease of 2% when compared with November 2014. Overseas residents spent £1.4 billion in the UK during these visits.
During the period September 2015 to November 2015, overseas residents’ visits to the UK rose by 5% compared with the corresponding period a year earlier and spend increased 2%.
In the 12 months to November 2015, the number of visits to the UK was 4% higher than a year earlier and earnings remained the same during this period. Visits from North America and Europe (see "Background notes: Geographical areas") were up by 7% and 3% respectively and visits from Other Countries grew by 4%. Business trips grew 6%, holiday visits grew 1% and visits to friends or relatives by 6%.
Figure 3: Overseas residents' visits to the UK by month (seasonally adjusted)
November 2013 to November 2015
Source: International Passenger Survey (IPS) - Office for National Statistics
Download this chart Figure 3: Overseas residents' visits to the UK by month (seasonally adjusted)
Image .csv .xls6. Trends in visits abroad by UK residents non seasonally adjusted (Reference tables 3,4,5)
The estimated number of visits abroad by UK residents in November 2015 was 4.0 million. UK residents spent £2.3 billion during visits abroad in November 2015.
During the period September 2015 to November 2015, UK residents’ visits abroad rose by 8% compared with the corresponding period a year earlier and they spent 7% more during this period.
In the 12 months to November 2015, the number of visits abroad by UK residents was 8% higher when compared with a year earlier and expenditure on these visits also rose by 8% during this period. Visits to North America rose by 6%, Europe by 9% and Other Countries by 6%. Visits to friends or relatives rose by 9%, holiday visits rose by 9% and business visits rose by 3%.
Figure 4: UK residents' visits abroad by month (seasonally adjusted)
November 2013 to November 2015
Source: International Passenger Survey (IPS) - Office for National Statistics
Download this chart Figure 4: UK residents' visits abroad by month (seasonally adjusted)
Image .csv .xls7. Other overseas travel and tourism releases
More detailed analysis of overseas travel and tourism trends are provided in the publications:
Overseas Travel and Tourism Quarterly, latest publication for Quarter 3 July to September 2015 was published on 21 January 2016. This publication provides more detailed analysis of visits and spending, isolating aspects such as countries of visit, mode of travel used, nationality of visitors and regions of the UK visited. Travel Trends, 2015 has a provisional publication date of 28 April 2016.
Travel Trends, latest publication Travel Trends 2014 was published on 20 May 2015, the next publication (Travel Trends 2015) will be published in spring 2016. This publication provides final overseas travel and tourism estimates and more detailed analysis of visits and spending, including analysis by demographics, towns in the UK visited and countries visited by residents of different parts of the UK.
TravelPac is a data set which allows users to conduct their own analysis of quarterly and annual data on main variables. The datasets are provided in SPSS and Excel.
Note that estimates are subject to revision between the monthly statistical bulletin and the quarterly publication and again when Travel Trends is published. Revisions result from more accurate passenger figures being made available. More information about the IPS revisions policy is available in the Quality and Methodology Information (350.4 Kb Pdf). The most up-to-date and accurate estimates for all published months can be found in the latest edition of the Overseas Travel and Tourism monthly statistical bulletin.
Note that, although data by the International Passenger Survey (IPS) also feeds into the calculation of migration statistics, the Overseas Travel and Tourism publications do not provide any information relating to international migration.
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys8. Reference tables definitions
Abbreviations used in the tables:
NA ...not available
SA ...seasonally adjusted
NSA ...not seasonally adjusted
† ...point of earliest revision due to the most recent quarterly benchmarking
1 ...estimate (rounded to nearest 10,000 visits or £10 million)
Constituent items in the tables may not add exactly to totals due to rounding.
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys9. Exclusions
Trippers who cross the Channel or the North Sea but do not alight from the boat.
Migrants and persons travelling overseas to take up pre-arranged employment, together with military or diplomatic personnel, merchant seaman and airline personnel on duty.
Overseas residents passing through the UK on their way to other destinations (often known as transit passengers) but who do not stay overnight (however any spending whilst here is included in the figures for earnings).
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys