The given tables provide information on various reasons why British travelers went abroad and main areas they travelled to over the course of five years, starting from 1994.
Overall, while going on holiday was the primary reason for the UK citizens to embark on international trips, they rarely did so because of other reasons. Meanwhile, business and visiting friends and relatives were quite popular among the four categories.
Looking first at travelling motivations, in 1994, there was a total 22.072 of overseas visitors. Of these, 15.246 individuals went on a holiday, marking it the predominant reason. Conversely, ‘other reasons’ category recorded a mere 982 visitors, which was less than a fifteenth of the holiday segment’s figure. Regarding the two remaining explanations, business and visits to friends and relatives, their data were relatively similar, ranging from 2000 to 3000 visits. By 1998, the total of visits experienced a moderate increase of 6.756 visits to reach a peak of 28.828 ones, slightly up from its lowest point of 21.610 visits in 1995. Similarly, holiday travel remained dominant, witnessing a gradual increase to 20.700 visitors despite a small decrease of 14.898 visitors in 1995. The number of oversea goers for other reasons also increased to 990 people, minimally down from its peak of 1.054 people in 1997. This figure was approximately twenty times lower than that of holidaymakers. In stark contrast, despite being the second and third popular purposes, business and visits to friends and relatives, respectively, saw a continuous increase over the timeframe. Each exceeded over 3000 visits in the final year.
Turning to tourist destinations, Western Europe consistently emerged as the most visited place, welcoming from 19.371 visitors in 1994 to 24.519 ones in 1998. Other areas came second in the list, with 1.782 visitors in the first year. This number stably increased to 2.486 in the last investigated year. Despite being at the second rank, the number of people undertaking international trips to other areas was still far lower than that of those visiting the former destination. Lastly, North America stood at 919 visits in 1994 and then marginally decreased to 914 in the next year before recovering and rising to 1.823 visits in 1998, which was almost half of that of other areas segment. However, this place was still the least frequented compared to the other categories.