Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK, with direct tourism spending accounting for 2.7% of UK Gross Value Added, or approximately £86.3 billion in 2007, comprising:

A complete set of figures for 2008 will be available in autumn 2009

The recent Deloitte study 'The Economic Case for the Visitor Economy' estimated that taking the direct and indirect impact of tourism together, the sector was worth £114.4bn in 2007, equivalent to 8.2% of UK Gross Domestic Product.
 

Inbound Tourism to the UK in 2008 (provisional: 

• The 31.9 million overseas visitors who came in 2008 spent £16.4 billion in the UK.  These figures represent a 2.6% decline in volume and 2.5% (nominal) increase in value compared with 2007 - this was the first decline in visitor numbers since 2001  
• In 2007 the UK ranked sixth in the international tourism earnings league behind the USA, Spain, France, Italy and China (2008 results due end June 2009)
• The top five inbound markets for the UK in 2008 were:                                     

UK Domestic Overnight Tourism:   

• In 2008 UK residents took: 
  - 52.0 million holidays of one night or more spending £11.4 billion 
  - 18.2 million overnight business trips spending £4.5 billion 
  - 44.1 million overnight trips to friends and relatives spending £4.8 billion  
  

Employment: 

• According to Deloitte in 2007 the tourism sector supported over 2.6 million jobs; 1.4 million directly and a further 1.3 million indirectly
• Jobs directly supported by tourism account for 4.3% of all employment, and the combination of direct and direct employment is equivalent to 8.4% of all jobs 

                                 
Accommodation:  

• In 2008, average room occupancy for all serviced accommodation throughout the UK was 60% (down 2 percentage points from 2007). Average bedspace occupancy was 44% (an decrease of 4 percentage points on 2007)                  

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