York ranks highest for visitor spending out of UK towns and cities, with visitors accounting for £1 in every £3 spent

Out of the most-visited cities in the United Kingdom, York leads at attracting visitor spending with one in every £3 spent by visitors from elsewhere, according to Centre for Cities’ analysis of visitors’ contribution to local economies in the UK’s 63 largest cities and towns.

And, though London ranks top for the quantity of spending by overnight visitors, Blackpool ranks highest in proportion to its size. York, Edinburgh, Brighton and Bournemouth make up the top five.

Source: Fable Data, Centre for Cities’ analysis.

Data also show that, with an average of £100 spent per person, overnight stays are more than twice as lucrative as day trips (£42 on average). Across the top ten destinations for overnight city breaks in the UK, an average of one in every £5 of in-person spending comes from visitors.

Places like Edinburgh and Blackpool are pulling in significantly more visitor spending than other cities their size, each taking a similar share of the UK’s total overnight domestic visitor spending to Glasgow – more than four times Blackpool’s size and roughly twice the size of Edinburgh.

However, official data on short-term lets and spending data from a limited sample of international visitors indicate international visits are concentrated in only a few places. This suggests that local partners in the top ten places should work with national organisations like Visit Britain to see how they can expand their visitor economy through international visits.

Centre for Cities’ reveals what visitors are spending money on in cities and towns in the UK in its report, ‘Spending time: the role of the visitor economy in UK cities’.

The study sets out how visitors help places sustain a greater variety of local businesses and experiences in the most-visited destinations.

For example, in York, where more than half of local spending on food and drink businesses is from visitors, spending data identify over 700 separate food and drink establishments in the city, or 3.5 per 1,000 residents. This suggests visitor spending is helping to sustain a greater variety of dining options than in similar-sized places with fewer visitors such as Swindon, with 2.2 establishments per 1,000 residents.

Outside the top ten destinations, there are 11 further places where visitors make an outsized contribution to local economies. On average, visitors to these places account for one in every £7 spent on the high streets – equal to the national average.

Centre for Cities says these 11 places – including Exeter, Norwich and Glasgow – could do more to take advantage of visits to their city, for example by finding out what the constraints are on converting day trips into overnight stays that give visitors the chance to spend more in a single visit.

The introduction of short-term let registration, confirmed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in February 2024, would help cities better understand the demand visitors place on accommodation in popular destinations and find out whether the supply of overnight accommodation is appropriate.

Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: “It’s hard to imagine Edinburgh without its unique restaurants and cafes or Blackpool without its Pleasure Beach. The extra revenues that visitors bring in makes life in these places richer, livelier and more enjoyable for residents too, by sustaining a wider variety of local amenities than they could do on their own.

“In raw numbers, there are only a few places where visitors taking a city break make up a considerable share of total spending. For these places, the next step is to understand the potential to tap into demand for overnight stays so that they can encourage people to spend more while only making one journey.

“While the desire to build stronger visitor economies in other places is understandable, they must balance the resources required to do this against dealing with other challenges their economies face.”

Amanda Cupples, general manager for Airbnb in Northern Europe, said:  “The UK is home to some of the world’s most popular city destinations, attracting millions of visitors who create lasting memories during their holidays. This research shows that tourism delivers significant economic advantages across the UK, from leading destinations like Brighton and Bristol to burgeoning tourist spots like Belfast and Newcastle.

“Airbnb is proud to play a part and support everyday people in opening their homes to guests from all around the world, contributing to the local economies and helping support local small businesses. We have long called for regulation and look forward to working with the government to deliver a simple, modern registration system. This system would provide local authorities with the necessary tools to manage housing impacts and ensure sustainable tourism in cities and beyond.”