The line graph illustrates the number of international visitors coming to the United Kingdom for three purposes from 1989 to 2009.
Overall, it is clear that the number of visitors to the UK from overseas experienced an upward trend for three different purposes. Additionally, holiday was consistently the most common purpose of visiting the UK throughout the period.
Looking first at holiday travel with the highest figure, holidays experienced a fluctuation over the period. In 1989, around 6.5 million foreigners visited the UK for holiday. The number of visitors coming from abroad increased considerably to approximately 9 million in 1994, before plummeting to just over the initial figure in 2004. The year 2009 witnessed a gradual recovery, reaching its peak at roughly 9 million.
Turning to the remaining categories, the UK had almost 5 million people visiting for business in 1989, which was 0.5 million higher than in 1994. Between 1994 and 2007, the number of people visiting the UK for business purposes recorded a substantial increase of 4 million, but later its figure dropped slightly by 1 million in the final year. Likewise, starting from almost 3.5 million in 1989, visits to meet friends and relatives rose dramatically to approximately 7 million in 2007, but later this number fell to around 6 million in 2009.