The English tourism sector employs over 2 million people, generates £106 billion a year and supports thousands of businesses in this country. So is there any wonder that this #EnglishTourismWeek we’re highlighting the importance of the industry.

I mean, just check out some of these figures from Visit Britain here:

Visit England Tourism In England Infographic

The Economic impact

Tourism in England contributes £106 billion to the British economy and also supports 2.6 million jobs.

In 2011, there was 208,880 VAT registered businesses in England in tourism sectors, which include: accommodation, food and drink, transport, travel agencies, cultural activities and more.

Volume and Spend

In 2017, British residents spent £19 billion on 100.6 million domestic overnight trips in England.

This is closely followed by overseas visitors to England who spent £21.4 billion in 2017, making 34.3 million trips.

1.5 billion domestic day trips were taken to English destinations in 2017, with spending totalling £50.9 billion.

Accommodation

England has:

33,374 serviced accommodation businesses (e.g bed and breakfasts, guest houses and hotels) with 786,775 bedrooms and 1,768,795 bed spaces.

31,845 non-serviced accommodation businesses (e.g holiday homes, camping and caravan parks) offering 1,401,716 bed spaces.

An average serviced accommodation room occupancy of 71% in 2017, with average bed space occupancy at 52%.

Attractions

It’s estimated that there are around 5,000 to 6,000 visitor attractions in England.

Sources: VisitBritain