VisitBritain has today, (18 February), published its inbound tourism forecast for 2025, showing that international visits overall and visitor spending to the UK are set to increase on 2024 levels, although with varying rates of growth from across its major inbound markets.
VisitBritain’s overall forecast for spending by international visitors in the UK in 2025 is £33.7 billion, up 7 per cent on the spending predicted in 2024.
Looking at the number of visits to the UK, a record 43.4 million visits are forecast, up 5% on the 41.2 million expected in 2024.
The United States (US) continues as the UK’s largest and most valuable visitor market. Spending by Americans is forecast to be up 9% on 2024 to a record £6.7 billion this year, meaning that almost £1 in every £5 of inbound visitor spending in the UK is by US visitors. Visits and spending from Europe overall are also showing growth on 2024, although it is a mixed picture across major European inbound markets. While recovery from East Asia overall continues to lag, numbers are continuing to improve with China forecast to return as the UK’s fifth most valuable visitor market this year, worth an estimated £1.6 billion to the economy.
VisitBritain’s analysis also considers tourism’s overall competitive position globally and the longer-term potential for growth. If inbound tourism to the UK was to grow at the same pace as forecasts are currently indicating for Western Europe, the industry would be worth an additional £4.4 billion per year by 2030 to the UK economy.
Tourism Minister Sir Chris Bryant said:
“It is no secret that the UK is one of the best places to visit in the world. With bustling cities and towns, stunning countryside, beautiful beaches, amazing film and TV locations, remarkable historic sights and first-class culture and entertainment, there is something for everyone and we want to encourage more people to visit even more parts of our incredible country.
“We have an ambition to welcome 50 million international visitors a year to the UK by 2030, and this positive forecast shows that we are well on our way to achieving this, setting the scene for our visitor economy to maintain its competitive edge and thrive for years to come.”
VisitBritain CEO Patricia Yates said:
“International visitors spend tens of billions of pounds in the UK with the money generated supporting jobs, businesses and driving growth for local economies, so it is encouraging to see the steady increase forecast this year on 2024.
“Inbound tourism is already delivering year-on-year growth in value of 7%, with huge potential to generate further growth for the economy. Tourism is also an extremely competitive global industry; visitors have a lot of choice, and we face fierce competition especially from our European neighbours. To drive tourism to Britain, supporting the UK Government’s ambition to reach 50 million visitors annually by 2030, our international campaigns are focused on markets showing growth including Australia and the US, as well as our major European markets and the valuable Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.
“We also want more regional destinations across Britain to feel tourism’s economic benefits. Our recently launched global ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ campaign is using the powerful draw of screen tourism to showcase our vibrant cities, contemporary culture and beautiful coast and countryside, alongside our welcome, encouraging visitors to broaden their itineraries, stay longer and to come now.”