Manchester has turned itself into one of Europe's most compelling city-break stories. It is the third most-visited city in the UK by international travellers, its airport has just recorded the busiest year in its history, and Greater Manchester's visitor economy is now worth almost £9 billion a year — with an official strategy to grow that to £15 billion by 2030. Below are the latest numbers, drawn from official sources: the ONS International Passenger Survey, the Civil Aviation Authority, Marketing Manchester and industry reporting. All figures are the most recent available as of 2026.
Key Manchester tourism statistics
- Manchester received 1.52 million international overnight visits in 2024 — the UK's third most-visited city, behind only London and Edinburgh.
- Manchester Airport handled a record 32.1 million passengers in 2025, cementing its place as the UK's third-busiest airport after Heathrow and Gatwick.
- Greater Manchester's visitor economy generates almost £9 billion of additional value and supports over 100,000 jobs.
- The city-region hosted 51,500 conferences and business events in 2024, welcoming 3.9 million delegates — a sector now worth over £1 billion.
- Co-op Live, the UK's largest indoor arena, added an estimated £313 million to the Greater Manchester economy in its first year alone.
- Manchester is the largest hotel market outside London by room count, and supply is still growing.
How many international visitors does Manchester get?
- Manchester welcomed 1,521,000 international overnight visits in 2024, according to VisitBritain's town-level data from the ONS International Passenger Survey.
- That followed 1,721,000 visits in 2023 and 1,228,000 in 2022, as inbound travel rebounded from the pandemic.
- One caveat on the apparent 2023→2024 dip: the ONS badges 2024 estimates as "official statistics in development" after a methodology change in the survey, and does not endorse direct comparisons with earlier years. City-level samples are also small, so single-year swings should be read cautiously.
- The UK as a whole recorded 42.6 million inbound visits in 2024, with visitors spending £32.5 billion.
Manchester vs other UK cities
- The top five most-visited UK cities for inbound tourism in 2024 were London (20.9m), Edinburgh (2.6m), Manchester (1.5m), Birmingham (0.9m) and Liverpool (0.9m).
- Manchester pulls in over 60% more international visits than either Birmingham or Liverpool, and remains the clear number one in the North of England.
- London operates in a league of its own with almost fourteen times Manchester's visits — but outside the capital, only Edinburgh ranks higher.
Manchester Airport: a record-breaking gateway
- Manchester Airport handled 32,088,626 passengers in 2025 — an all-time record, up 4% on 2024 and comfortably above the pre-pandemic peak of 29.4 million set in 2019.
- 2024 was itself a record year at 30.8 million passengers, up 9.6% on 2023 — making Manchester the first UK airport outside London to join the "30 million club".
- The recovery is dramatic: passenger numbers collapsed to just 6.1 million in 2021 before rebounding more than fivefold in four years.
- The airport is the UK's third busiest, behind only Heathrow and Gatwick, and serves more than 200 destinations — more than any other UK airport outside London.
- A £1.3 billion transformation of Terminal 2 was completed in 2025; more than 70% of passengers now travel through the new terminal.
The visitor economy: nearly £9 billion and aiming for £15 billion
- Greater Manchester's visitor economy generates almost £9 billion of additional value for the city-region and keeps over 100,000 people in work, according to Marketing Manchester's STEAM-based measurement.
- In January 2025 the city-region launched a new Visitor Economy Strategy for 2025–2030, targeting growth to £15 billion of economic impact by 2030.
- The strategy also aims for Manchester to be the most-visited city-region outside London, a top-20 European destination, and the highest-ranked English city on the Global Destination Sustainability Index.
- A further goal: every employee in the visitor economy earning at least the Real Living Wage by 2030.
Manchester's hotel market
- Manchester is the largest hotel market in the UK outside London by room count.
- Hotel supply grew another 1.6% in the year to August 2025: three openings added 888 rooms, including the 252-room reopening of the Radisson in the city centre, with boutique openings (Soho House, Mollies Motel & Diner) in the pipeline.
- Performance has cooled from the post-pandemic peaks: revenue per available room averaged £90.50 in the year to August 2025, down about 6% year-on-year, as new supply pushed occupancy down 5.3 percentage points while average rates still edged up slightly.
- For visitors, that supply boom is good news — more choice and sharper pricing, especially outside major event weekends.
Business events and conferences
- Greater Manchester hosted 51,500 conferences and business events in 2024, welcoming 3.9 million delegates.
- The meetings and events sector has now surpassed £1 billion in annual economic impact — roughly a 50% increase on the £862 million reported in the late 2010s.
The Co-op Live effect: music tourism at scale
- Co-op Live opened in May 2024 as the UK's largest indoor arena, with a capacity of 23,500.
- An independent economic study by Lichfields found the arena delivered a £455.5 million boost in Gross Value Added to the UK economy in its first year, of which an estimated £313 million flowed into Greater Manchester.
- Together with the AO Arena, Old Trafford, the Etihad Stadium and Emirates Old Trafford, it gives Manchester one of Europe's densest big-event calendars — the single biggest driver of hotel-occupancy peaks in the city.
Museums and attractions
- Visits to the UK's leading attractions reached 157.2 million in 2024, up 3.4% on 2023 though still below 2019 levels, according to ALVA — and Manchester's institutions share in that recovery.
- Several of Manchester's flagship attractions are free to enter, including Manchester Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, the Science and Industry Museum, IWM North and the People's History Museum — a major reason city-break budgets stretch further here than in most European cities.
Sources
- VisitBritain — Inbound visits and spend: trends by UK town (ONS International Passenger Survey)
- VisitBritain — Inbound visits and spend: annual UK
- Manchester Airport — 32m passengers in 2025 (media centre)
- UK Civil Aviation Authority — UK airport data
- Greater Manchester Visitor Economy Strategy 2025–2030 (Marketing Manchester)
- Meet in Manchester — business events sector surpasses £1 billion
- Populous — Co-op Live first-year economic impact (Lichfields study)
- ALVA — 2024 visitor figures
- Hospitality Net / HotStats — Manchester Hotel Market Spotlight, YE August 2025
