Visitor numbers and spending

Domestic Visitor & Spend Data

This data shows the total number of domestic day visits (visits lasting more than 3 hours from people residing in Great Britain) and the total spend from those people in English regions. Data from 2020 was not collected due to COVID restrictions, but began again in 2021.

Of the comparator regions shown, the North East had the fewest number of day visitors in in 2022, 28 million day visits. This value was less than half the next lowest which was the East Midlands (75 million). London had roughly six times more visitors (total of 169 million). East of England, South West, West Midlands, and Yorkshire & The Humber had between 78 to 110 million visitors.

The annual visitor spend data showed similar trends. Visitor spend data in the North East was £1.4bn. This was £1.5bn less than the next lowest, in the East Midlands (£2.9bn). The East of England, South West, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and The Humber all had spend between £3bn - £4bn. The highest visitor spend was in London at £8bn.

Domestic Overnight Stays and Nights

This data shows the total number of overnight stays and number of total nights spent in the region by domestic visitors (visitors coming from within the UK). The North East had the lowest number of nights spent in the region by domestic visitors, at 11 million nights. This data shows that while London saw the most day visits, the South West had the highest number of nights spent, 65 million. London had 42 million nights. The West Midlands had the second lowest number of nights spent, 21 million.

All English regions saw a jump in the number of overnight visits from 2021 to 2022. This value almost doubled in the North East from 2.1 million to 3.8 million, this value was the lowest number of visitors in 2022. The largest increase was in the South West from 11.8 million visitors in 2021 to 17.6 million, this was also the region which saw the highest number of visitors in 2022.

Visitor Attractions Data

In 2022, visitor attractions in the North East garnered 5.2 million visits. This was an increase of 83.6% compared to 2021, but a 14.3% decrease compared to 2019. Out of the total visits to visitor attractions across the UK, the North East only had 4% of the visits. The 20 attractions in the North East which attracted the most visitors in 2022, garnered 4.4 million visitors in total. The top five visitor attractions were The Living Museum of the North in Beamish (789k visits), Hardwick Park (402k visits), The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (380k visits), The Alnwick Garden (321k visits), and Durham Cathedral (296k visits). Of the top 20 attractions, five are based in County Durham, seven are in Northumberland, and eight are in Tyne and Wear. The attractions cover a range of types, including gardens, castles, historic houses, and nature reserves, but the most common of the top 20 are museums/art galleries.

International Visitors Data

In 2022 there were c.31.2 million visits to the UK from international visitors. Of these, only 1.6% (c.488k) went to the North East. This is the second lowest rate of visitors of all the regions in the UK, with only Northern Ireland being lower at 0.4% of all visits. London attracted the majority of visitors in 2022, making up 51.6% of all international visits.

The majority of visits (51%) to the North East in 2022 by international visitors were to visit friends and family. Business trips only made up 19% of all visits to the North East. Holiday visits made up 26% of all trips. This is similar to the average visits to the UK, where visiting friends and family made up 37% of all trips and business trips made up 16%.

The third chart shows the spend per visitor by international visitors in 2022. This value was £638 per person in the North East, which is one of the highest in the UK regions. The only regions which are higher are London at £876.83 and Scotland at £974.30. Most other region spend per visitor hovers between £500 to £600.