Canadian visits to Britain top million mark for first time

More Canadians are visiting Britain and spending more than ever before, according to the latest official statistics highlighted by Britain’s national tourism agency, VisitBritain.

Canada’s appetite for travel to Britain is surging with more than one million Canadian (1,003,000) visits in 2023, up 12% over 2022 and an increase of 15% since 2019, the year before the pandemic, according to a press release.

Canadian visits have also delivered a record spend of £970 million pounds ($1.7 billion CAD), up 4% from 2022 and an increase of 32% since 2019, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Britain & Canada's strong ancestral ties

Britain and Canada share strong ancestral ties. Visiting friends and relatives continued to leads in terms of volume of visits from the Canadian market. 

In 2023, VFR represented 43% of trips, with holidays sat slightly second with 40%. The holiday market represented a higher spend (47%) versus VFR (35%). 

While overall spend from the Canadian market is up 12% over 2022, spend per visit decreased slightly to £966 per visit in 2023, from £1,042 per night in 2022. Average length of stay for inbound Canadian travellers in 2023 is 10 nights, 2.3 nights higher than the global average of 7.7 nights.

READ MORE: “Films are powerful motivators for travel”: VisitBritain lights up TIFF

‘We are thrilled to see these record-breaking results from Canada. It’s clear that demand for Britain continues to build with Canadians travelling to England, Scotland and Wales throughout the year. Our ‘See Britain Differently’ campaign continues to encourage visitors to explore beyond Britain’s famous landmarks to experience a more unexpected side of Britain through our arts & culture, food & drink and cities & countryside," stated VisitBritain Executive Vice President, The Americas, Australia, & New Zealand Paul Gauger.

VisitBritain Director Canada, Cathy Stapells, added:

"I'm so excited that Canada has smashed that ‘magic million’ for visits to Britain. Together with our dedicated travel trade partners, we will continue to build demand and convert inspiration into bookings through our ‘See Things Differently’ campaign. Delivering more buzz for Britain is a focus on screen tourism and we continue to highlight the wealth of amazing film and TV locations to be visited throughout Britain." 

Britain bounces back

Overall, Britain continues to build back strongly from the pandemic. In 2023, the UK welcomed 38 million inbound visits. Visits were below pre-pandemic levels (2019) by 7% but were up 21% vs 2022, the 

Inbound visitors spent a record £31.1 billion pounds during 2023, up 9% vs 2019 and up 17% vs 2022. Taking inflation into account, visitor spend was down 10% vs 2019 and up 9% vs 2022.

Overall, 292.9 million nights were spent in the UK in 2023, up 1% vs 2019 and up 11% vs 2022.

The average spend per visit (SPV) by inbound visitors was £819 per visit in 2023, up 18% vs 2019 but down 3% vs 2022. In real terms, SPV was down 3% vs 2019 and down 10% vs 2022.

Visitors stayed an average of 7.7 nights in 2023, which has been decreasing since 2021 but remains above 2019 (7.1 nights).

Average spend per night was £106 in 2023, up 8% vs 2019 and up 5% vs 2022. In real terms, SPN was down 11% vs 2019 and down 2% vs 2022.

VisitBritain’s latest forecast for 2024 projects that this year Britain will welcome 38.7 million inbound visits and £32.5 billion spend, 95% and 114% of the 2019 levels respectively, although spend would be 92% of 2019 in real terms, when adjusting for inflation. 

When compared to 2023, this would represent growth of 2% in visits and 5% in nominal spend (2% in real spend), says VisitBritain.

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