Bar chart: Visitors to the UK by region of origin

The bar chart shows how many visitors came to the UK from five regions of the world in 2019, in millions.

Overall, Europe was by far the biggest source of visitors, and the numbers fell sharply as the distance from the UK increased. The remaining four regions together accounted for far fewer visitors than Europe alone.

Europe sent 30.5 million visitors, a figure more than six times higher than that of the next-largest region, North America, which sent 4.9 million. These two regions were clearly dominant, and no other region reached even 5 million visitors.

Asia ranked third, with 3.4 million visitors, which was about two-thirds of the North American figure. The two smallest sources were far less significant. Australasia accounted for only 1 million visitors, while Africa recorded the lowest number at just 0.6 million, which was about 2% of the European total.

Together, these last three regions sent 5 million visitors, only about a sixth of the European total. The gap between the highest and lowest regions was therefore almost 30 million visitors.