Participation rate in watersports activities in the United Kingdom (UK) 2005-2019

According to the National Watersports Survey conducted in the United Kingdom, overall tendencies towards watersports participation in the country increased gradually from a quarter of the population in 2005 to roughly 30.3 percent in 2019, with some ups and downs in between. Overall the most popular activities were spending leisure time at the beach, coastal walking, and outdoor swimming.

Swimming in England

Swimming participation in England dropped sharply in 2021 from four million participants going swimming at least twice a month in 2020 to just 1.2 million participants in 2021. Many bathing areas had to close their doors to the public for several months during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Recreational boating

Around 737 thousand households in the UK own a boat, of which roughly half are either a canoe or a kayak and about a fifth are sailboats, followed by motorboats and sailing yachts. Boating participation in the UK kept stable with slight fluctuation, with approximately 6.1 percent of people in the UK going boating in 2019. Moreover, the majority of boating activity events in the UK took place in the South East and West between 2017 and 2019.