WTTC: UK Tourism Now Worth over a Quarter of a Trillion Pounds

The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 2023 Economic Impact Research (EIR) reveals the UK Travel & Tourism sector is forecast to exceed the 2019 peak this year. The sector is set to contribute £252.4BN to the UK economy this year, surpassing the 2019 pre-pandemic high of £248.5BN.

WTTC is also forecasting that the sector will create almost 380,000 jobs this year, recovering almost all of the jobs lost due to the COVID 19 pandemic to reach more than 4MN, with around one in nine workers in the UK, in the Travel & Tourism sector.

International visitor spend to the UK is forecast to reach £26.18BN, just 6% behind the 2019 peak of £38.6BN.

Last year, the sector’s GDP contribution grew by 65% to reach more than £237BN, representing 9.5% of the economy, edging closer to the 2019 high of 9.9% of the economy.

Last year the sector also created 1.1MN more jobs from the previous year to reach 3.6MN jobs nationally – one in 10 jobs across the UK. The sector has now recovered 1.5MN of the 1.7MN jobs lost during the pandemic.

Last year also saw the return of international travellers heading to the UK with spending from overseas visitors growing over 300% from 2021 to reach almost £30BN.

Domestic visitor spend fully recovered in 2022 to match the pre-pandemic high of £165BN, showing that whilst the UK has taken longer to attract high spending overseas visitors, the staycation is here to stay.