The line graph illustrates the amount of money spent by international visitors in the UK between 1980 and 2010, while the pie charts compare the reasons for visiting the country in 1980 and 2010.
Overall, visitor expenditure fluctuated considerably but followed an overall upward trajectory, reaching a peak of £12 billion in 1996. Meanwhile, holidays remained the dominant reason for travelling to the UK in both years, whereas visiting friends or relatives experienced the most substantial increase.
Looking first at visitor spending, overseas tourists spent approximately £8 billion in the UK in 1980. This figure fell to just under £7.5 billion in 1982 before recovering to around £9 billion two years later. Expenditure then rose overall to approximately £9.6 billion in 1990, despite a slight dip to about £8.8 billion in 1992. Thereafter, spending climbed sharply, peaking at £12 billion in 1996. This was followed by a marked decline to roughly £9.5 billion in 2002. However, visitor expenditure rebounded to nearly £11.5 billion in 2006 before gradually decreasing to around £10.5 billion by the end of the period.
Turning to the purposes of travel, holidays accounted for the lion’s share of visits in both years, although their proportion fell modestly from 44.1% in 1980 to 39.1% in 2010. By contrast, the percentage of business travellers edged up slightly, from 20.7% to 22.8%. Visits to friends or relatives also increased markedly, rising from 18.7% to 28.2%, thereby overtaking business to become the second most common reason for travelling to the UK in 2010. In contrast, the proportion of visitors travelling for other reasons declined considerably, from 16.6% to just 9.8%, remaining the least common purpose of travel in both years.