The REIGN of SPAIN
When it comes to UK tourists holidaying abroad, one country leads the pack
HEADING abroad this summer? Chances are you’ll either be going to Spain, France or Italy.
That’s because they were the three most popular destinations we
Brits flocked to for our holidays last year, new figures from the Office for National Statistics show. There were 14.0 million holidays to Spain in 2017 - more than double the 6.1 million to France, and nearly seven times greater than the 2.9 million holidays to Italy. Overall Brits took 46.6 million foreign holidays that year the highest figure on record.
It means one in every three holidays was to Spain, one in every eight was to France, and one in every 16 was to Italy. One reason why the trio is so popular is likely because they’re also some of the cheapest countries - with tourists spending an average of just £62 per day in Spain and France, while tourists in Italy tended to spend £83 a day.
Overall, British tourists spent £8.0m on holidays in Spain, more than double the £3.0 million we splashed out in France.
However, tourists managed to spend more money in America (£2.9 million) than Italy (£1.8 million) - despite the country seeing fewer visitors from the UK.
Outside of Europe, America was the most popular holiday destination seeing some 2.2 million holidays in 2017.
The average length of a trip abroad also varied.
People who went to Spain tended to stay for nine nights, more than the eight nights people stayed in France and Italy.
Destinations like America, however, saw longer trips. The average holiday there lasted 12 nights - and that was barely a patch on some countries. For example, on average people stayed in New Zealand for 37 nights though that’s likely because they were travelling the country. While the number of Brits going abroad hit a record level last year, so too did the number of tourists holidaying in the UK. There were 15.4 million holidays to our country in 2017, which generated £10.6 million for the UK economy.