Monthly outbound tourist visits from the UK 2018-2023

In September 2023, visits abroad from the United Kingdom totaled roughly 9.4 million, which was an increase on September in the previous year and was only marginally less than pre-pandemic levels for the same month. Over the period considered, monthly outbound visits from the UK peaked at around 11.6 million in August 2019. 

Tourism in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic turned the global tourism industry upside down, with countries worldwide enacting lockdowns and travel bans to limit the spread of the virus. As a result of the emergency measures, the total number of outbound tourist visits from the United Kingdom declined by 74 percent in 2020 over the previous year, then dropped even further in 2021, reaching the lowest figure in a decade. 2022 saw a partial recovery, however, levels still remained below what was recorded before the pandemic. Meanwhile, the impact of the health crisis on inbound tourist visits in the UK was even harder, with the country recording just 6.4 million visits from abroad in 2021.

Contribution of travel and tourism to the economy in the UK

In 2022, the total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in the UK amounted to roughly 237.1 billion British pounds, which was around 5 percent lower than before the pandemic. That year, the travel and tourism industries supported around 3.6 million jobs in the country. Even in this case, however, travel and tourism's total contribution to employment in the UK did not catch up with the figure reported in 2019.