The line chart illustrates how visitors’ money was spent between the years 1980 and 2010, while the pie charts give information about the distribution of four main reasons people visited the United Kingdom in 1980 and 2010.
Overall, we see changes in both spending and the reported reasons for visits. Money spent increased by almost half throughout the tracked period, and three out of four categories experienced more than a 5 percent change.
Pounds sterling spent by people visiting the United Kingdom changed dramatically over the period captured. The historic low of about 7 billion in 1982 was followed by a run with an overall upward trend, hitting an all-time high of 12 billion in 1996. From there, money spent fluctuated around the 10.5 billion mark.
The reasons for visiting did not experience as significant a change as the money spent. While fewer visitors came for holidays and other purposes, with both areas experiencing about a 5 percent drop from 1980 to 2010, this was compensated by a massive uptake in people coming to visit their friends or relatives, rising from 18.7 to 28.2 percent.