The latest provisional International Passenger Survey results have been released for January 2019, showing modest but relatively stable year-on-year growth for visits while spend remained on par with 2018.
As with previous months, the figures are lower than might be expected considering the value of the pound, and likely reflect global economic uncertainty as well as continued uncertainty around Brexit.
VISITS
- The UK welcomed 2.6 million overseas visitors in January 2019, up 6% on January 2018, making this the second highest level of January visits after January 2017.
- In the 3 months to January 2019 8.4 million inbound visits were made to the UK, a 3 % increase on the same period in 2017/18.
- Despite these positive results, visits to the UK in the 12 months to January 2019 were 2% behind the previous record-setting 12 months at 38 million.
SPENDING
- Inbound visitors spend £1.5 billion in January this year – on par with January 2018.
- In the 3 months to January 2019 visitor spending fell 1% below the same period in 2017/18 at £4.8 billion.
- As with visits, the recent positive results was not enough to offset year-on-year declines posted earlier in 2018, with spending falling 7% behind the previous record-setting 12-month period to reach £22.7 billion.
JOURNEY PURPOSE
- Holiday visits were up 25% at 880,000 in January 2019 compared to the previous year. A record 3 million holiday visits were made between November 2018 and January 2019 – up 15% on the same period in 2017/18 and the first time holiday visits have exceeded 3 million for any November – January period. For the 12 months to January, 15.2 million holiday visits were made to the UK, up 1% on the previous 12 months.
- VFR (visits to family and friends) were down 4% year-on-year for both January 2019 and in the November – January period at 960,000 visits and 2.8 million visits respectively. In the 12 months to January 2019 VFR is tracking 2% behind the previous 12 months at 11.6 million visits.
- Business visits were on par with figures from the previous year for both the January result and the November – January result, at 630,000 visits and just over 2 million visits respectively. For the 12 months to January 2019 however business visits were down 3% on the previous year at 8.5 million visits.
- Miscellaneous journeys (a wide range of journey purposes including – but not limited to – short term study, job seeking, shopping, attending a sports event and more) were up 8% compared to January 2018 at 170,000 visits. For the 3 months to January 2019 however these visits were down by 9% compared to the previous year at 580,000. For the 12 months to January 2019 Miscellaneous journeys saw the biggest decline of all journey purposes, down 13% on the previous 12 months to reach 2.6 million visits.
MARKET LEVEL
- Visits from all EU markets were up 10% year-on-year in January 2019 at 1.8 million visits, and up 5% for the November – January period at 5.8 million visits. However for the 12 months to January 2019 visits from all EU markets was down 1% compared to the previous 12 months at 24.9 million visits.
- Visits from EU15 markets were up 14% in January 2019 compared to 2018 at 1.4 million visits, and up 7% for the 3 months to January 2019 at just under 4.7 million visits. Similarly to the all EU markets figures, visits from the EU15 markets were down 1% for the 12 months to January 2019 at just over 20 million visits.
- Visits from Other EU markets were down 3% in January 2019 at 360,000 visits, and down 2% for the November – January period at 1.1 million visits. For the 12 months to January 2019 visits from this market were down 2% compared to the previous 12 months at 4.8 million visits.
- Visits from the Rest of Europe saw an 8% decline in January at 130,000 visits, and a 7% drop in the 3 months to January 2019 at 520,000 visits. Visits from this market fell by 11% for the 12 months to January to reach 2.2 million visits.
- Visits from North America grew 15% in January 2019 compared to the previous year to reach 300,000 visits. However a sharp decline at the end of 2018 meant visits in the November – January period fell by 4% compared to the same period in 2017/18 with 810,000 visits. In the 12 months to January visits from North America tracked 1% higher than the previous 12 month period at just under 4.8 million visits.
- Visits from the Rest of the World fell by 8% in January compared to the same month in 2018, to reach 450,000 visits. A stronger performance towards the end of 2018 meant for the November – January period visits from the Rest of the World were up 2% compared to the previous year at 1.3 million visits. However, for the 12 months to January 2019 visits from this market fell by 4% to reach just over 6 million visits.
The full IPS summary from VisitBritain can be downloaded at the link below.
