Close to home
Our UK market represents a significant proportion of the visitors Scotland welcomes each year. Understanding more about who they are, how they behave and the preferences they have for their visits can offer a real advantage to those in the tourism industry.
We’re closely monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation as it develops and are currently publishing the COVID-19 consumer tracking report which looks at UK holiday intentions as the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, as well as regular updates on the UK market during the COVID-19 crisis.
In this section:
Annual Domestic Tourism Statistics
Great Britain is Scotland’s largest tourism source market and you can learn more from the summaries and detailed reports covering the most recent domestic tourism statistics. Information is sourced mainly from the Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS) and the Great Britain Day Visits Survey (GBDVS) which provide volumes, values and characteristics of domestic overnight and day trips undertaken by Great Britain residents.
Great Britain Market Infographic 2019
Published June 2020
Scotland Market Infographic 2019
Published June 2020
GB Tourist 2019 Annual Report
Published August 2020
The Great Britain Day Visitor 2019 Annual Report
Published August 2020
Changes to domestic tourism monitoring from 2020
Alongside our partner organisations, Visit England and Visit Wales, we reviewed the GBTS and GBDVS survey scope and methods in 2019. A number of changes will help future-proof the domestic tourism monitoring surveys and provide greater consistency with information for other destinations. Further detail can be found in our Update on Great Britain domestic travel statistics.
Update on Great Britain Domestic Travel Statistics
Published November 2021
Domestic Trip Profile
Explore these short reports that provide bite-size insight into trends in domestic overnight tourism and day trips.
The reports look at the travelling behaviour of visitors in different “life stages” and display 3-year average data to present a more ‘typical’ picture of visits, rather than the most recently available annual information.
Domestic Overnight Trip Profile 2017-19
Published June 2020
Domestic Day Trip Profile 2017-19
Published June 2020
UK Segmentation
VisitScotland use a segmentation model to understand and target UK consumers and to inform our UK marketing strategies and activities which can be seen below. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been clear that the factors that previously identified key segments for Scottish tourism are being affected by the current crisis. As a temporary measure some COVID-19 segments have been developed. These can be seen on our coronavirus insights UK and Ireland markets page.
Overview of VisitScotland’s target segments
Published June 2014
Individual segment profile - Adventure Seekers
Published January 2014
Individual segment profile - Curious Travellers
Published January 2014
Individual segment profile - Engaged Sightseers
Published January 2014
Individual segment profile - Food-Loving Culturalists
Published January 2014
Individual segment profile - Natural Advocates
Published January 2014
Dive into the survey data
Great Britain tourism survey
gbtsscotlandlightviewer.kantar.comData about overnight trips for Scotland and Great Britain, made by domestic travellers (not including Northern Ireland)
Great Britain day trips survey
gbdayvisitslightscotland.kantar.comThis survey covers day trips and leisure trips of up to 3 hours
International tourism data browser
www.visitbritain.orgData from the international passenger survey, with statistics from inbound visitors to Great Britain
Office of National Statistics
www.ons.gov.ukLeisure and tourism data from the Office of National Statistics