There’s good news for the region in the 2024 Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS) with visitors staying longer and spending more money.
Only five of ten regions saw an increase in overnight spend, the East growing 18% compared to 2023, even outstripping London in second place (+15%) and the North West (+10%) in third. By contrast the South West and South East saw drops of -1% and -5% respectively.
The East of England was also one of only two regions where the number of nights stayed increased, up 4% year-on-year with Yorkshire rising by 3%.
Every region saw a drop in volume of trips, but the East saw the smallest drop at just -1%. The overall figure across the whole of England was -10%, with the North East seeing the biggest drop at -23% and London at -5%.
‘We’ve seen the lowest drop of any region in volume of trips, which is encouraging, but it’s outstanding news that we’ve seen the biggest rise in England of length of stay and trip spend. That’s how we’re going to grow our visitor economy – it’s not just footfall, it’s about the value of a visitor and these figures demonstrate the outstanding offer we have, particularly around accommodation,’ said Pete Waters of Visit East of England, which operates the Suffolk and Norfolk Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP).
‘It is important to note that our region is working from a lower base than some other better-established regions, but that just goes to highlight the opportunity we have converting our huge numbers of day trippers to staying visitors,’ he added.
GBTS, Domestic overnight trips 2024, Report
GBTS survey summary
A decline in visits in 2024 although an increase in spend (as cost of overnight trips rises).
- Volume: In 2024, Britain residents took 90 million overnight trips in England and 106 million in Britain; both declined by 10% on 2023.
- Value: Total spend when adjusted for inflation increased by 2% in England and 3% in Britain. Spend per trip increased (in England from £262 to £305 and in Britain from £266 to £312). NB price increases in tourism-related categories outpaced general inflation in 2024, and spend growth was not even across categories; holiday spend fell.
- Trip purpose: Business saw the largest year-on-year increases in spend in 2024. ‘UK stay as part of outbound’ was the only trip type to record an increase in trip volume, with spend also increasing.
- Season: Q1 and Q4 2024 saw the sharpest declines in trip numbers vs 2023.
- Region: The decrease in volume was broadly consistent across English regions, with the smallest decrease in East of England (-1%), where the spend increased by 18%.
- Destination type: decline in trips is visible in all types; however, seaside and small towns decreased most (-14%).
