VisitScotland welcomes ‘undeniable demand’ from international visitors

VisitScotland Chief Executive Malcolm Roughead responds to the release of the quarterly International Passenger Survey (IPS) tourism statistics by the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS). He said: “After a strong start to the year, it is hugely encouraging to see such clear recovery from our international markets, with visits and spend greatly surpassing both 2022 and pre-pandemic levels.

“Our overseas visitors often stay longer and spend more, helping to support jobs and communities in every region across the country.

“These new figures demonstrate an undeniable demand for Scotland’s world-renowned offering and an opportunity for those within the Scottish tourism industry to capitalise on this global interest. While we all continue to navigate the challenging economic landscape, our priority is to use our marketing, partnership work, funding and business support activities to grow appetite for Scotland from all visitors – near and far – and make Scotland a year-round, must-visit destination.”

OVERALL SCOTLAND SUMMARY FOR Q2 2023 (APRIL-JUNE)

• There were 1,163,000 inbound visits to Scotland in Q2 2023, surpassing Q2 2019 by 27% and Q2 2022 by 50%. Scotland continued to post the strongest recovery into Q2 2023.
• Inbound visitors spent £1,087 million (in nominal terms) in Q2 2023, up 53% from Q2 2019. When adjusting for inflation, in real terms visitor spend in Q2 2023 was up 36% vs Q2 2019, equivalent to £963 million in 2019 prices.
• In total, 10.6m nights were spent in Scotland by inbound visitors, up 46% vs Q2 2019 but up 43% vs Q2 2022.
• The average spend per visit was £935 in Q2 2023, up 20% in nominal terms vs Q2 2019 (£778), and up 6% in real terms.
• The average length of stay in Q2 2023 was 9.1 nights which was longer than in Q2 2019 (8.0 nights) but shorter than Q2 2022 (9.6 nights).

Full details can be viewed at https://www.visitbritain.org/research-insights/inbound-visits-and-spend-quarterly-regional