VisitEngland: Domestic tourism spend in England grew by 9 per cent in 2012

2013-04-23 — /travelprnews.com/ — VisitEngland has released figures showing that the trend to holiday at home is holding strong. The latest results from the Great Britain Tourism Survey reveal that Britons took 104 million overnight trips in England last year; which is on par with 2011. Domestic tourism spend in England grew by 9 per cent in 2012, hitting an all-time high of £19.5bn. Considering Britain as a whole, the number of domestic overnight trips taken in 2012 fell slightly by half a per cent, with spend up 6 per cent.

The national tourist board cautioned that these results should be considered in context with the poor weather experienced across the country last year, which was the wettest on record for England. Despite the positive overall figures, 2012 was mixed around the country, with many businesses affected by the weather. Overnight trips to both towns and cities increased, whereas trips to the countryside and seaside destinations were down slightly (2 per cent) – however, spend was up across all destination types. Domestic business travel saw a boost last year, with trips up by 3 per cent and spend up by 6 per cent, while the number of holiday trips was unchanged vs 2011, and the number of trips to visit friends and relatives in England saw a 1 per cent drop.

VisitEngland also recorded a considerable rise in the number of domestic day trips in England last year compared to 2011, proving that Britons still have a strong appetite to get out and explore the country.   The Great Britain Day Visitor Survey showed that Brits took 1.47 billion day trips in England last year (a rise of 12 per cent), with spend rising by 14 per cent to £48billion.

Outbound figures show that the number of UK residents travelling abroad was also flat in 2012, with no change in the number of trips taken abroad compared to 2011 – indicating that concerns about a possible ‘mass exodus’ of holidaymakers abroad due to the Olympics was largely unfounded.

James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive, commented:
“These figures clearly show that England is still a much-loved holiday destination for millions of Britons. However, 2012 was a mixed bag for many tourism businesses, and we know that some areas of the country have felt the impact of the poor weather.  To boost domestic breaks and inspire even more people to take a holiday at home in 2013, we are working closely with Government on a £4m pan-UK integrated marketing campaign fronted by national icons, Wallace & Gromit. The campaign will kick off on 12 May with a TV advertisement which will see the quintessentially British duo encouraging people to book a break through their local travel agent.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS
VisitEngland – Sarah Long, Head of Corporate Communications, Tel: 020 7578 1452, Mob: 07500555651, Email: sarah.long@visitengland.org   www.visitengland.org
Emma White, Corporate Communications Executive, Tel 020 7578 1471, Email: emmalucy.white@visitengland.org

About GBTS
• GBTS has replaced the UKTS survey, and is jointly sponsored by VisitEngland, VisitScotland and  VisitWales, and carried out by independent research agency TNS – a background to the survey can be found here: http://www.visitengland.org/insight-statistics/major-tourism-surveys/overnightvisitors/index.aspx
• The full results can be found here: http://www.visitengland.org/Images/December%202012-%20Commentary%20of%20results_tcm30-37080.pdf

About GB Day Visitor Survey
 In total 35,262 interviews were conducted weekly, online, with adults age 16+. Respondents were asked about the day trips they had taken in the past 7 days.
 The full report can be found on http://www.visitengland.org/insight-statistics/major-tourism-surveys/dayvisitors/index.aspx
 In this survey  tourism day trip is defined as:
• Taking part in one of a pre-defined list of activities (based on international tourism definitions)
• Spending 3 or more hours out of the home on this activity
• The activity not being something that the respondent does “very regularly”
• The activity not being carried out in the place that the respondent lives or, if the trip started in the workplace e.g. going for a drink after work, the place the respondent works
o The exception to this was trips to visitor attractions, live sporting events and special public events, which are all counted as tourism day trips even when in the place of residence, provided they fulfil the other three criteria.

Outbound Travel
• Outbound travel figures are taken from the International Passenger Surveys (IPS) issued by the Office of National Statistics: /bounce.aspx?PG=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/surveys/list-of-surveys/survey.html?survey=International+Passenger+Survey+(IPS)

About VisitEngland
• VisitEngland is the country’s national tourist board. We work in partnership with the industry to develop the visitor experience across England, plan national tourism strategy, grow the value of tourism in England and provide advocacy for the industry and our visitors
• Our work is underpinned by robust research and customer insights. You can access the latest in-depth market intelligence and statistics on www.visitengland.org/insight-statistics
• More information can be found on www.visitengland.org and www.visitengland.com

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