FOI Ref: FOI/2022/4603
You asked
I would like to find out some statistics about UK travel industry in year 2020.
How many tourists in total visited UK in 2020.
How many hotel rooms there were in total in 2020.
How many hotel beds there were in total in 2020.
What percentage of GDP in 2020 tourism sector contributed.
We said
Thank you for your request.
The International Passenger Survey (IPS) interviews visitors from overseas' residents and records the number of these visits. In 2020, the survey was suspended in March due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions and no details were collected. However, work was carried out to estimate total visits using modelling methods to provide these figures. This was based on previous years' data and the number of passengers departing the UK. Care should be taken when using this figure as it is just estimate of the actual number.
Total visits from overseas residents in 2022 was estimated to be 11.101 million.
More details of these visits and data for 2021 are available on our website, accessible via the following article: Travel trends: 2021.
If you require any further information about international visits, please contact the team at socialsurveys@ons.gov.uk.
Unfortunately, we do not hold information in relation to hotel rooms and beds. Visit Britain may be better placed to help you with this element of your enquiry. They can be contacted at Freedom of Information (FOI) Request – VisitBritain Forms.
Unfortunately, we also do not hold information about the contribution of tourism as a percentage of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The nearest information that we do hold, would be an estimate of the total Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA).The TDGVA is our estimate of the amount of gross value added directly related to tourism. This information will be published shortly as part of the UK Tourism Satellite Account The UK Tourism Satellite Account (UK-TSA) - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) on the 29 November 2022.