The line chart illustrates the number of international travellers, measured in millions of visitors, to the United Kingdom for three different purposes from 1989 to 2009. The three travel reasons depicted in the graph are: holiday, business, and visits to relatives or friends.
The overall number of visitors increased during the period. While the total number of travellers summed up to about 16 million visitors in 1989, this figure was nearly 20 million in 2009.
During the entire period, holiday was the most popular reason to travel. In 1989, the United Kingdom welcomed a little over 6 million international tourists. Following, the number of people spending their holidays in the country increased over the next years, peaking at around 9.5 million in 1999. After that, it dropped to less than 8 million in 2004. Finally, it grew again to roughly 9 million in 2009.
The other two travel purposes shared similar trend in the period. First, although business travels accounted for less than 6 million visitors in 1989, this number had a sharp fall in the following years, reaching a bottom of 4 million in 1993. After that, it rose steadily for the next decade, reaching a maximum of 8 million in 2008, before dropping again in 2009 to around 7 million visitors. Lastly, the number of people visiting friends and relatives was less than 4 million in 1989. Next, it grew constantly until 2004 when it reached 7 million; however, it fell afterwards to about 6 million in 2009.