The line graph depicts the change in the number of foreign travelers who visited the UK due to three different reasons from 1989 to 2009.
Overall, although the number of travelers visiting the UK because of holiday and business fluctuated over a 20-year period, the total figures for each one saw a noticeable increase, with the former being dominant. It is also clear that the number of tourists who paid a visit to friends or relatives living in the UK grew gradually throughout the period shown, with the exception of the last five years.
In 1989, around 6.5 million travelers were recorded in the UK to holiday, which was the primary reason for foreigners, while the figure for business was relatively lower, ranking second with approximately 5 million visitors. The number of travelers who paid a visit to see friends or relatives in this country, meanwhile, was roughly half of the primary reason – holiday, standing out as the least chosen reason in the diagram.
Over the following decade, the number of tourists who came to the UK for holiday increased by more than 3 million. In contrast, the figure for tourists coming due to business decreased noticeably, standing at 4 million in the year 1994, while the number of tourists visiting to friends or relatives in the UK was as high as the figure for business travelers, and these figures increased significantly to around 6 and 7 million respectively by 1999. The figures for all reasons maintained their rank, despite fluctuations for the rest of the period given : 9 million tourists visited the UK for holiday at the end of the given period, whereas the number of travelers visiting due to other reasons remained at a similar level.