What is the most visited city in the UK? Which is the cheapest one? How do the British travel within their own country? The team from InsightsX, the Business Intelligence tool provided by TravelgateX for the tourism market, has taken a full x-ray of the travel sector in the UK on the occasion of the most anticipated event of the year: the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, which will last from today, November 4, until Wednesday the 6th.
Destination London
More than 200,000 reservations managed through TravelgateX form the basis for the analysis. 66.5% of those reservations still had London as their destination, but they were closely followed by the city of Edinburgh, the Scottish Highlands, Manchester and Glasgow.
The capital remains not only the most visited city in the UK, but also where travellers stay the longest (on average 3.2 nights). It is also the most expensive destination if we look at the price per night for a room (161.79 €). On the other end of the scale we find Birmingham, the cheapest destination with a nightly price per room of 82.3 euros.
High seasonality
The most striking data that was extracted by InsightsX for the annual report on the UK market was how dependent the tourism sector was on summer seasonality: June, July and August are the preferred months to travel, both for locals and travellers from other countries. More specifically, July and August account for 23% of the reservations made this year.
The months of November and December have the fewest numbers registered, but it is interesting to see that reservations made for these final months of the year are the longest ones (3.61 nights on average).
The Spanish spend the most time
If we look at the nationality of travellers who spend the most time in the UK, the Spanish top the list, with an average of 3 nights per trip, ahead of the Americans, who usually spend an average of 2.6 nights, and the Chinese, who spend 2.2 nights in these destinations.
Better as a couple
When it comes to travelling to the UK, most travellers prefer to do so as a couple (52.8%) while only 5.9% do so as a family. It is also a popular place to visit on your own (22.81%) or in a group (18.55%).
By city, the preferred destination for those travelling as a couple is Edinburgh (58%), the most popular among single travellers is Manchester (37%) and the favourite for groups is the Highlands (23.04%).
Hotel spending
Travellers who choose the UK for their holidays spend on average 150 € per night and room on hotels. This amount varies greatly depending on the origin of the traveller in question and which month they visit. July and August are the most expensive months and January the most economical.
The Americans spend the most on their hotels, with an average of 177 €, followed by the Chinese with 142 €, the Spanish, who spend an average of 134 € per night on hotels, and the British, who spend the least on average with 117 € per night and room.