The charts below outline the number of UK residents who had visits abroad, in comparison with the number of foreigners who visited the UK between 1979 and 1999 measured in millions. As well as the most popular countries visited by UK residents. From an overall perspective, it is evident that although both the visits to the UK by foreigners and the visits abroad by residents increased, the latter outnumbered the former by a large margin. It is also apparent that France and Spain were by far the most visited countries by UK residents.
Starting off in 1979, 10 million foreigners came to the UK for visits; while about 15 million UK residents left the country on overseas trips. These numbers rose gradually until about 1989 when the number of UK residents that went overseas skyrocketed, later peaking at 56 million people in 1999. On the other hand, the number of visitors into the UK after reaching about 22 million between 1989 and 1994, plateud till the last year under review.
Furthermore, of all the UK residents who traveled overseas, France and Spain had the most visitors with 14 million and 13 million visitors respectively. The USA, Greece, and Turkey had less than 5 million visitors each, with Turkey recording only about 3 million visitors; the lowest across the board.