Our home tourism trade is coming into a brand new stage of decline – with costal and countryside locations seeing the largest collapse
With stunning, sandy seashores from Nice Yarmouth to Blackpool by Newquay and Scarborough, gorgeous walks within the Brecon Beacons, Peak District and Yorkshire Dales, buzzing cities like Brighton, Liverpool and Glasgow, the UK has an absolute abundance to supply folks on their holidays. However even with 2025 being the sunniest 12 months on document, new NEF evaluation reveals the UK’s home tourism trade was in steep decline, with coastal and countryside locations going through the largest collapse.
In 2021, because the Covid-19 pandemic slowed down and life started returning to regular, the federal government set out its plans for the way forward for the UK’s home tourism trade. The ambition was to “embed home journey as a sustained behaviour”, making certain that individuals who took home journeys throughout the pandemic “accomplish that time and again”. This weblog evidences the federal government’s failure to ship on that objective, a failure which has led to a storm of despair for Britain’s ailing hospitality trade.
Utilizing VisitBritain’s Nice Britain Tourism Survey, we discover that the variety of nights folks spent on in a single day leisure journeys declined by 5% between 2024 and 2025, a fall of round 14 million nights. Since 2022, 75 million nights have been misplaced, a fall of 21% (Determine 1). In 2025, actual (i.e. inflation-adjusted) spending on in a single day home tourism was down 8% (£2.6bn) in comparison with ranges in 2022 ). The sector’s decline is worse nonetheless when thought-about towards the backdrop of a rising inhabitants.
Determine 1: Nights (left) and cash spent (proper) on home in a single day tourism by GB residents, 12-month rolling totals by quarter
Supply: NEF evaluation of the Nice Britain Tourism Survey, journeys for a enterprise function are excluded, spending is adjusted to 2025 costs utilizing the ONS CPIH inflation index
The declines haven’t been evenly unfold. The autumn in exercise is much higher on the coast, in small cities, and within the countryside. The variety of leisure nights spent in these three vacation spot classes declined by round 30% (65 million) between 2022 and 2025 (Determine 2). Actual (i.e. inflation-adjusted) spending in these locations was down 25% (£4.6bn) over the identical interval, whereas cities and enormous cities noticed a rise in spending of 14% (£2.1bn). In solely 12 months between Q3 2024 and Q3 2025 seaside and coastal locations, a lot of them among the many most disadvantaged components of the UK, misplaced £640m in home tourism spending, shedding £1.4bn since 2022.
Determine 2: Spending on home in a single day tourism in £hundreds of thousands, by vacation spot sort, 12-month rolling totals by quarter
Supply: NEF evaluation of the Nice Britain Tourism Survey, journeys for a enterprise function are excluded, spending is adjusted utilizing the ONS CPIH inflation index
The traits described — notably within the interval between 2022 – 2023 — could have been impacted by the legacy of the pandemic. Pent-up demand for worldwide journey could have affected the development. Nevertheless, with the post-pandemic financial restoration lengthy since full, latest adjustments are eye opening. Furthermore, the figures introduced are ‘propped-up’ by a rise in spending within the UK by households who’re on their approach in a foreign country, for instance, a household that stays in a single day in Essex the night time earlier than a flight out of Stansted. With out this class, classed ‘UK keep as a part of outbound’, the spending decline on coasts, within the countryside, and in small cities would have been even bigger, at 29% (£5bn).
For the declines described above to happen in 2025, the identical 12 months the UK noticed its hottest and sunniest 12 months on document, displays years of presidency neglect of the UK’s home tourism trade. The most recent debacle with enterprise charges, which has left the broader hospitality trade out within the chilly, is simply the most recent instance. For years the tax system has penalised hospitality and leisure, locations have been starved of funding, and street and rail transport prices have risen quick. In distinction, the outbound tourism market, principally the air journey sector, has loved beneficiant tax breaks and sustained political assist for airport enlargement. The big enterprise charges low cost lately prolonged to Heathrow airport is the most recent instance.
Sticking plasters, just like the enterprise charges low cost provided to pubs and music venues, won’t resolve the systemic issues going through excessive streets,hospitality and home tourism. Extensive reaching reform is required. We might begin by changing Enterprise Charges with NEF’s twin proposal: a brand new, a lot decrease, property tax, that’s totally devolved to native determination makers; and a tax on land homeowners, that incentivises funding as a substitute of land-hoarding. NEF’s proposals would create a extra redistributive system, reducing the burden on excessive streets and hospitality in held-back areas, like a lot of our as soon as thriving coastal locations.
We additionally have to deal with the opposite aspect of this equation. The beneath taxation of air journey, provided by exemption from VAT, gas responsibility, and efficient carbon taxation, sends the improper message to households, encouraging them to spend treasured disposable earnings abroad as a substitute of on highstreets and in home tourism. The cash raised by correctly taxing air journey, as much as £6bn by our calculations, might be used to straight lower the price of home holidays, making certain that fulfilling home holidays stay inexpensive. In addressing the struggles of the UK economic system in 2026 we must always think about not simply how a lot cash households must spend however the place they’re spending it.
