Bristol is the largest city in the South West of England and the region's main gateway for international travel, yet its inbound visitor numbers are smaller and more volatile than its profile suggests. The ONS International Passenger Survey recorded 450,500 inbound overnight visits to Bristol in 2024, down from 568,500 in 2023 and roughly 30% below the city's 2019 peak of 641,300. Over the same period Bristol Airport pulled in the opposite direction, handling a record 10.8 million terminal passengers in 2025, while Visit West valued the wider Bristol, Bath and West of England visitor economy at a record £2.7 billion in 2024. Every figure below is taken from official sources - VisitBritain and the ONS, the Civil Aviation Authority, Visit West and the West of England Combined Authority, ALVA and event organisers - and reflects the most recent data published as of 2026.
Key Bristol tourism statistics
- 450,500 inbound overnight visits to Bristol in 2024, down 21% on 2023 and about 30% below the 2019 record of 641,300.
- 10,832,713 terminal passengers at Bristol Airport in 2025 - the busiest year on record and the UK's eighth-busiest airport.
- £2.7 billion of direct visitor spend across Bristol, Bath and the West of England in 2024, supporting 43,000 jobs.
- 31.6 million staying and day trips to the Visit West region in 2024, of which Bristol accounts for 53.7% of staying visits and 43% of day visits.
- 49% of Bristol's inbound overnight visits in 2024 were to visit friends and relatives (221,700 trips) - a far higher share than for most UK city destinations.
- Spain was Bristol's largest inbound source market in 2024 with 54,700 visits, ahead of the USA (48,200) and France (45,100).
- 300,000+ visitors attend the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta each year, injecting more than £22 million into the city's economy.
International visitors to Bristol
- Bristol received 450,500 inbound overnight visits in 2024, a fall of 21% from 568,500 in 2023 and effectively level with the 454,400 recorded in 2022 (VisitBritain detailed towns data).
- The city's all-time high was 641,300 visits in 2019. On the 2024 figure, Bristol is still around 30% short of its pre-pandemic peak - a wider gap than Liverpool, Birmingham or Edinburgh.
- VisitBritain cautions that town-level estimates are based on small sample sizes for every city except London, and that 2024 data are badged "official statistics in development" after a change in International Passenger Survey methodology from Q3 2024.
- On Visit West's wider regional measure, Bristol, Bath, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire together took just under 1 million international staying trips in 2024, and Bristol alone accounted for 56% of those (Visit West key facts and figures).
- International visitors are the growth engine: regional visitor spend rose 6% in 2024 while trips fell 1%, with international spend up 9% and domestic spend flat (West of England Combined Authority).
How Bristol compares with other UK cities
- In 2024 Bristol ranked ninth among UK towns for inbound overnight visits, slipping behind Oxford (546,600) and Cambridge (478,900). It had held seventh place in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
- Edinburgh (2.56 million) and Manchester (1.52 million) remain far ahead of every other city outside London, which alone recorded 20.95 million inbound visits in 2024.
- Birmingham (927,300) and Liverpool (918,400) each attract more than double Bristol's inbound volume, despite comparable city populations.
- Neighbouring Bath recorded 353,200 inbound overnight visits in 2024, ranking eleventh. Even combined, Bristol and Bath (803,700) sit below Birmingham or Liverpool on their own.
- Bristol's relative position is stronger on air traffic than on inbound overnight stays: it is the UK's eighth-busiest airport but only its ninth-most visited town by international overnight visitors.
Bristol Airport: the South West's gateway
- The Civil Aviation Authority recorded 10,832,713 terminal passengers at Bristol Airport in 2025, up 2.1% on 2024 and 21% above the pre-pandemic 2019 total of 8,959,679 (CAA annual airport data 2025).
- The airport's own count for 2025 was 10,751,233 passengers, up 2.6% - "the busiest ever year for the Airport" - after passing 10 million for the first time in 2024 (Bristol Airport Annual Monitoring Report 2025).
- The top routes in 2025 were Alicante (484,099 passengers), Amsterdam (478,245) and Palma de Mallorca (475,618), with Alicante overtaking Amsterdam as the single most popular destination.
- Air transport movements edged down 0.5% to 78,169 in 2025, so growth came from fuller and larger aircraft rather than more flights.
- The airport supports 5,857 direct jobs on site, is investing £400 million in upgrades, and its adopted Master Plan targets up to 15 million passengers a year by the late 2030s.
- Almost one in five passengers reached the airport by public transport in 2025, a record share, helped by the £60 million Public Transport Interchange that opened in July 2025.
Visitor economy and jobs
- Direct visitor spend across Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire reached £2.7 billion in 2024, the highest ever recorded by Visit West.
- Total tourism-supported business turnover was £3.43 billion, sustaining 43,000 jobs in the sector (West of England Combined Authority).
- The region hosted 31.6 million staying and day trips in 2024: almost 28 million day visitors spending around £1.5 billion, 2.7 million domestic staying visits and just under 1 million international staying trips.
- Staying visitors spent just over £1 billion, split 52% domestic and 48% international - international visitors therefore contribute close to half of overnight spend from under a third of overnight trips.
- Bristol takes 43% of the region's day visits and 45% of day-visit spend, and 53.7% of all staying visits (Visit West).
- Retail accounts for 33% of all visitor spend and food and drink 30%, while only 14% goes on accommodation - a reminder that most of the money lands in the wider high-street economy.
Where Bristol's inbound visitors come from
- Spain was Bristol's biggest inbound market in 2024 with 54,700 visits, followed by the USA (48,200), France (45,100), Germany (45,000) and the Irish Republic (33,300).
- The mix shifts sharply year to year on small samples: France led in 2023 with 69,800 visits, while the USA jumped from 34,300 in 2023 to 48,200 in 2024.
- Visiting friends and relatives is Bristol's dominant trip purpose, at 221,700 visits in 2024 - 49% of the total, against 141,200 holiday visits (31%).
- Business travel is the weak spot: inbound business visits halved from 133,400 in 2023 to 68,000 in 2024, which explains most of the city's overall decline.
- Study trips were 9,300 in 2024, broadly flat on 2023 (9,300) and double the 4,800 recorded in 2022 (VisitBritain / ONS).
Hotels, attractions and events
- Bristol hotels ended 2025 with occupancy almost 1% higher than in 2024 and average daily rate slightly lower, finishing ahead of both the UK and regional average occupancy (Visit West Business Barometer).
- Bristol has the largest concentration of hotel rooms in the West of England and is one of the UK's most-booked destinations for short-term lets.
- Brunel's SS Great Britain drew 131,056 visits in 2025, up 7% year on year, while nearby Tyntesfield recorded 398,389 visits, up 4% (ALVA visitor figures 2025).
- The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta attracts more than 300,000 visitors a year - 22% of them staying overnight and 30% travelling from over 50 miles - injecting more than £22 million into the city's economy, of which £14.7 million is genuinely new spend. Hotel occupancy exceeds 80% across Fiesta weekend and the event supports 153 full-time-equivalent jobs (Balloon Fiesta Impact Report 2025).
- Bristol Harbour Festival draws around 250,000 people across its July weekend and is one of the UK's largest free-to-attend events (Bristol BID).
- The domestic backdrop is soft: England recorded a 10% fall in domestic overnight trips in 2024 even as spend rose 5%, and English hotel occupancy was 83% in June 2026 with an average daily rate of £187 (VisitBritain GBTS, England hotel occupancy).
Sources
- VisitBritain / ONS - Inbound visits and spend: trends by UK town (detailed towns data 2009-2024)
- UK Civil Aviation Authority - Annual airport data 2025
- Bristol Airport - Annual Monitoring Report 2025
- Visit West - Visitor economy key facts and figures
- West of England Combined Authority - Visit West reveals region's tourism value rises to record high
- VisitBritain / VisitEngland - Great Britain domestic overnight trips, latest results
- VisitBritain - England hotel occupancy, latest
- ALVA - Latest visitor figures (2025)
- Bristol International Balloon Fiesta - Impact Report 2025
- Bristol BID - Bristol Harbour Festival 2025
