Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has taken to assess annual trends in the level of tourism in the January to March season.

The Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS) and the Inbound Passenger Survey (IPS) are the primary sources of data DCMS uses to understand trends in domestic and inbound tourism activities respectively.

The surveys illustrate that the period from January to March tends to be the off-peak season for inbound and domestic visitors in the UK. Using 2019 as an example, we welcomed 8.3 million inbound visitors between January and March, representing 20.4% of all inbound visitors for that year. In terms of domestic tourism, 18.5% (18.3 million) of domestic overnight trips took place between January and March inclusive, as compared to 29.6% for July to September 2019.

For 2022, January inbound visits and spend were lower due to the impact of the Omicron COVID-19 variant. However, visits and spend then quickly picked up from February, and the government removed all remaining COVID-19 international travel restrictions for all passengers from 18 March, providing a further boost to inbound numbers.

The government is working with VisitBritain to boost tourism and extend the season beyond the summer to boost sector productivity, provide more full-time employment and provide benefits for the visitor economy all year round.