In the three months to September, overseas visitors to the UK decreased in number by 5% compared with the previous three months and by 10% year-on-year, to 5.7m.
That figure is revealed in the seasonally adjusted results from the International Passenger Survey, released by the Office for National Statistics.
UK residents’ visits abroad increased by 2% to 14.6m in the same period, while spending by visitors to the UK from overseas decreased by 2% to £2.8bn.
The number of visits by overseas residents, seasonally adjusted, rose slightly from August to September 2001.
A sharp fall of visits from North America was offset by a rise in visits from Western Europe.
The total number of overseas residents’ visits to the UK, not seasonally adjusted, during the 12 months ending in September 2001 decreased by 6% year-on-year.
This was as a result of the number of visits from Western Europe decreasing by 6%, visits from North America decreasing by 5% and visits from other areas decreasing by 6%.
During the 12 months ending in September 2001, not seasonally adjusted, overseas earnings decreased by 8% and expenditure by UK residents increased by 7% compared with the previous year.
This resulted in a deficit on the travel account of the balance of payments of £13.7bn, compared to £11bn during the same period of to 2000.
In the nine months to September 2001, the number of arrivals for holiday visits, not seasonally adjusted, was 11% lower than during the same period in 2000.
The number of North Americans visiting the UK for holidays were 5% lower for the nine months to September 2001 than during the same period in 2000.
For residents of Western Europe and the rest of the world, the figures for the nine months to September compared with the same period during the previous year were lower by 17% and 5% respectively.
In September 2001, the number of arrivals for holiday visits seasonally adjusted was 787,000, which was 5% higher than in the previous month and 16% lower than in September 2000.
EGi News 08/11/01
The Press Association
