The line chart illustrates the number of overseas tourists who visited the UK for three different purposes – holiday, business and visiting friends and relatives over a period of 20 years, starting from 1989. Overall, the popularity of people who came to the UK for holiday could be seen towards the period shown. Despite fluctuations, the figure for visitors who went on business or visited their people their saw a steady increase.
In 1989, the number of tourists who went on holiday in the UK stood at about 6,2 million before having a massive leap to peak at nearly 10 million in 1999. After plunging down to 7,5 million, it increased back to 9 million, the highest number among all other figures.
In the first two years, visitors who went to the UK to be on business decreased significantly from around 5,2 million to 4 million. The number then rocketed to about 7 million in 2000 and was on the same level one year after before achieving the highest point at 8 million. That figure dropped consistently until 2009 afterwards.
The number of visitors who visited their friends and relatives in the UK experienced a steady increase until it peaked at nearly 7 million in 2004. That number slowly fell off to about nearly 6 million one year later.