Brighton Tourism Statistics and Trends 2026

In short: Brighton & Hove received 12.2 million trips in 2024: 10.5 million day trips and 1.7 million staying trips. Visitors spent £979 million, rising to £1.39 billion with multiplier effects, and tourism supported 25,677 jobs, 18% of all employment. Overseas visitor spend rose 35%, the city ranks tenth in the UK for overseas visits, the Royal Pavilion drew 210,896 visits in 2025 and Brighton Palace Pier 3.9 million.

Last reviewed 5 October 2026. Every figure on this page was checked against the source named next to it; where two sources disagree, the difference is stated.

Brighton & Hove is one of England's best-known seaside cities and, a short train ride from London and Gatwick, a heavyweight day-trip destination. This page collects the key numbers: how many people visit, what they spend, how many jobs tourism supports, where overseas visitors come from, how the big attractions and events are doing, and where the debate on a tourist tax stands. The core figures come from the city's own economic impact study (produced with the Cambridge Economic Impact Model for VisitBrighton), the International Passenger Survey as published by VisitBritain, ALVA's attraction figures and Brighton & Hove City Council. The latest full-year city study covers 2024; it is the most recent published as of October 2026.

Visitor numbers: 12.2 million trips a year

Brighton & Hove received 12,176,000 trips in 2024: 10,508,000 day trips and 1,668,000 staying trips, according to the Economic Impact of Tourism report for 2024 (Destination Research for VisitBrighton). Day trips rose 3% on 2023 (10,187,000) and staying trips also rose 3% (from 1,620,000).

UK residents made 1,267,000 staying trips (−1% on 2023) and overseas visitors 401,000 (+18%) (VisitBrighton EIA 2024).
Staying visitors spent 5,553,000 nights in the city, essentially flat on 2023 (5,570,000). That works out at about 3.3 nights per staying trip overall, about 2.7 for UK visitors and about 5.4 for overseas visitors (our calculation from the report's totals) (VisitBrighton EIA 2024).
Most day trips are urban (4,870,000) or coastal (3,991,000), with 1,647,000 countryside visits, reflecting the South Downs on the city's doorstep (VisitBrighton EIA 2024).
Holidays account for 65% of staying trips (1,086,000), visits to friends and relatives 18% and business 12% (VisitBrighton EIA 2024).

For context, the city's 2019 study counted 12.3 million trips, including 10.7 million day trips and 1.6 million overnight visits (Tourism South East, Economic Impact of Tourism on Brighton and Hove 2019). Day trips have therefore not quite returned to their pre-pandemic level, while nights have grown from 5.2 million to 5.6 million. The two reports were produced by different organisations, however, and the 2024 report says recent changes to the national surveys behind the model make it hard to tell real shifts in travel from methodological ones, so the comparison is indicative only.

Visitor spend: nearly £1 billion, £1.39 billion with multipliers

Visitors spent £979,304,000 during their trips in 2024: £601,611,000 by staying visitors and £377,693,000 by day visitors. Adding indirect and induced spending of £414,055,000 brings the total value of tourism to £1,393,359,000, up 9% on 2023's £1,279,960,000 (VisitBrighton EIA 2024). The 2019 study put the equivalent total at £1.255 billion (Tourism South East 2019); neither figure is adjusted for inflation.

Overseas staying visitors drove the growth: their spend rose 35% to £233,157,000, while UK staying visitors spent £368,454,000 (+3%) (VisitBrighton EIA 2024).
By category, food and drink took 30% of all trip spend (£288,654,000), shopping 24% (£230,175,500), accommodation 20% (£197,553,100), travel 15% and attractions 11% (VisitBrighton EIA 2024).
Day visitors spend 42% of their money on food and drink and 30% on shopping.
On the report's totals, a day trip is worth about £36 to the local economy and a staying trip about £361 (our calculation), which is why the city keeps trying to turn day-trippers into overnight guests.
Language and study visits matter more than their trip count suggests: 24,000 overseas study trips generated 369,000 nights and £39,637,000 of spend, 17% of all overseas staying spend (VisitBrighton EIA 2024).

Tourism jobs: almost one in five

Tourism supported 25,677 actual jobs in 2024, 18% of all employment in Brighton & Hove, up 8% from 23,742 in 2023. Measured as full-time equivalents the figure is 19,397. Of the actual jobs, 16,605 are directly in tourism businesses and 9,072 are indirect or induced jobs supported by tourism spending (VisitBrighton EIA 2024). Catering is the largest direct employer, with 5,578 jobs (34% of direct jobs), ahead of accommodation with 4,157. In 2019 the city counted 23,233 tourism-supported jobs (Tourism South East 2019).

Overseas visitors: a top-ten UK town

In the International Passenger Survey, Brighton recorded 414,000 overnight visits by overseas residents in 2024, ranking 10th among UK towns and cities, as it did in 2023 (441,000) and 2022 (335,000). In 2019 it ranked 8th with about 628,500 visits (VisitBritain, Inbound visits and spend: trends by UK town, and its Top Towns Historical 1999–2024 table). VisitBritain stresses that 2024 figures are "official statistics in development" after a change in survey method, that the ONS does not endorse comparisons with earlier years, and that town-level estimates outside London rest on small samples.

This is where two sources disagree. The city's impact study counts 401,000 overseas staying trips in 2024 and has them up 18% on 2023 (VisitBrighton EIA 2024), whereas the passenger survey shows 414,000 visits and a fall from 441,000. Both put overseas visitors at roughly 400,000 a year; the direction of travel is the uncertain part.

VisitBritain's detailed towns data for 2024 (322 survey interviews for Brighton, so treat the split with caution) shows:

Holidays (about 174,000 visits) and visits to friends and relatives (also about 174,000) each made up 42% of overseas visits, with business at 11% (VisitBritain detailed towns data 2009–2024).
The largest markets were Spain (about 55,000 visits), the USA (48,000) and Germany (34,000), followed by Australia and France (about 32,000 each). In 2019 France (90,000) and Germany (73,000) led (VisitBritain).

Seasonality: a summer city trying to fill its winters

Overseas visits peak in July–September, which accounted for 38% of 2024 visits, against 16% in January–March (VisitBritain detailed towns data). A 2026 council scrutiny report describes the city as a popular destination but "less successful as a winter and Christmas destination", noting that the ice rink at the Royal Pavilion has to move in 2026 because of the restoration of the Pavilion Gardens. However, it also notes that the winter dip is less pronounced than in other seaside resorts, thanks to shopping, dining and nightlife, and it says the city is seeing a decline in overnight visitors, both domestic and inbound (Brighton & Hove City Council, Visitor Economy Task & Finish Group Scoping Report).

Hotels and accommodation

No Brighton-specific hotel occupancy series is openly published, so we leave that figure out rather than estimate it. The impact study does show how central hotels and guesthouses are. Serviced accommodation (hotels, guesthouses, inns and B&Bs) took 1,174,000 staying trips in 2024, 70% of the total, and 2,755,000 nights, half of all staying nights. It also captured £437,661,000, or 73% of staying-visitor spend (VisitBrighton EIA 2024). Staying with friends and relatives accounts for 14% of trips and 23% of nights. If you are weighing up a stay on the south coast or elsewhere, see our guide to luxury hotels in the UK.

Attractions: Pavilion, Pier and i360

Royal Pavilion: 210,896 visits in 2025, down 3% on 2024. Brighton Museum recorded 58,644 (−16%) (ALVA 2025 visitor figures).
Brighton Palace Pier: 3.9 million visitors in 2025. Revenue in 2024 was £14.9 million, down 4%, and the admission fee for non-local visitors brought in £663,000. The fee rose from £1 to £2 in March 2025, and in January 2026 the pier was put up for sale (Brighton and Hove News). The pier currently lists admission at £1 per person, charged only from March to October and at peak times, with free entry for local resident card holders and under-twos (Brighton Palace Pier).
Brighton i360: the observation tower went into administration in December 2024. In February 2025 the council agreed a sale to Nightcap Limited, writing off the debt owed to it in exchange for a 1% share of the tower's annual revenue (Brighton & Hove City Council). The debt written off totalled £51 million, and the attraction was described at the sale as having more than 250,000 annual visitors (Brighton and Hove News). It reopened in a phased launch on 8 March 2025, with local residents' tickets cut to £5 for adults (Brighton and Hove News).

Events: Pride, Festival and Fringe

Brighton & Hove Pride is estimated to bring more than £20 million into the city in a single weekend. In 2026 around 100,000 people arrived through Brighton Station across the weekend, more than 60,000 visited Pride on the Park, and the council collected more than 29 tonnes of rubbish (Brighton & Hove City Council, August 2026).
Brighton Festival held its 60th edition from 1 to 25 May 2026, with more than 100 events featuring over 140 artists (Theatre Weekly).
Brighton Fringe marked its 20th birthday in 2025 with over 4,000 performances at 140 venues (Scene Magazine). Its most recent published audience total is for 2023: nearly 500,000 attendees and more than 160,000 tickets sold (Brighton Fringe).

A tourist tax for Brighton?

Brighton & Hove has no visitor levy as of October 2026, and it cannot introduce one on its own. In November 2025 the government announced it would give Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England the power to create overnight visitor levies. It consulted from 26 November 2025 to 18 February 2026 and published its response on 10 September 2026 (GOV.UK). The consultation proposed setting the levy as a percentage of the accommodation price rather than as a flat fee (Visit East of England).

Brighton & Hove is due to join a new Sussex & Brighton combined authority, but the election of its first mayor has been delayed to 2028 (Brighton & Hove City Council Cabinet decision, January 2026). Locally, the issue is contested. A January 2026 opposition motion asked the council leader to write to the government setting out concerns about the tax's impact on local businesses (Brighton & Hove City Council, Notice of Motion, 29 January 2026).

Brighton Tourism Statistics and Trends 2026

Visitor numbers: 12.2 million trips a year

Visitor spend: nearly £1 billion, £1.39 billion with multipliers

Tourism jobs: almost one in five

Overseas visitors: a top-ten UK town

Seasonality: a summer city trying to fill its winters

Hotels and accommodation

Attractions: Pavilion, Pier and i360

Events: Pride, Festival and Fringe

A tourist tax for Brighton?

Sources

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