The provided table compares the number of visits to the UK and their average spending, along with the average expenditure per trip and the length of stay, between 2003 and 2008.
Overall, the number of visits to the UK and their spending experienced an upward trend, with the exception of the nights spent per visit. Notably, 2007 recorded the highest number of trip, despite having the shortest average stays throughout the timeframe.
In the first half of the surveyed period, the UK experienced a leap in the number of visitors, increasing from 24.7 million to almost 30 million by 2005. The average expenses for the trips also significantly rose from 11.8 billion to 14.2 billion. Similarly, the average nights spent per visit remained stable in the first two years, at 8.2, before slightly rising to 8.3 by 2005. In contrast, the amount of spending per visit dropped from 475 to the lowest point of 466 in 2004, then recovered to 471 the year after.
From 2006 onwards, the UK reached a peak of 32.7 million visits by 2007, then modestly fell to 31.8 million the next year. The average visitor spending also skyrocketed to 16.3 billion, albeit a drop to 15.9 billion in 2007. People also spent more during each visit, with the figure increasing to 486 in 2006, and peaked at 511 by 2008. Nonetheless, the length of stay decreased to a low of 7.7 during the two final years, after reaching the highest point of 8.4 in 2006.