Blogs

In 2023, the United Kingdom welcomed over 28 million overseas visitors with the main factor for visiting being holiday visits accounting for 42% of visits. The number of leisure visits is close to 2019 levels and this a positive sign for the tourism sector. Furthermore, a positive trend is the increase in average spend of tourists in the UK increasing by 17.1% to 31.1 billion from 2022 to 2023 (ONS,2024). As outlined in Figure 1, residents of USA accounted for the largest visits followed by France, Germany, and the Republic of Ireland. Moreover, London accounted for the most visited city in the UK followed by Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool showing there is a sound regional distribution of tourists.

^{Figure 1: International Passenger Survey 2023 from the Office for National Statistics (ONS,2024)}

The Tower of London was the most visited attraction in 2023 across the UK with British Museum the most visited free attraction with close to 5.8 million visitors. Other regional attractions doing well include The Crown Estate Windsor, Edinburgh Castle, and the Roman Baths. Employment and staffing levels across visitors’ sites remain below pre-pandemic levels however staffing levels did increase in 2023. A noticeable trend is that 16% of attractions employed apprentices at their sites and this is expected to grow to 31% in 2024 (VisitBritain,2004). For ARU London Tourism graduates, the growth in the sector combined with the increase in staffing levels poses many opportunities as they embark on their career journey in the sector. Our graduates are uniquely positioned to take advantages of opportunities in the sector due to their knowledge of the sector, key trends such as sustainability and technology and project management skills developed during their learning journey at ARUL.

There is now a huge variety of roles available in this sector such as in retail, e-commerce, purchasing and procurement, operational roles in food and beverage, tour operators, curators and maintenance or design. ARUL graduates that have a keen interest in the policy and program activation of tourism strategies at a local and national level can seek roles in Tourism Boards such as Visit England or equivalent Tourism boards across Europe. There is also a multitude of opportunities at a local government level in counties and regions across the UK devising and promoting local tourism initiatives in a region. Some roles that appear in these areas include development officers, strategy analysts and commercial officers at a range of both entry and more senior levels.

In summary, the tourism industry is a vibrant, evolving, and growing sector with strong rebound tourist figures combined with considerable investment in tourism site development, high street development and transport through a range of agencies. This combined with a strong focus on sustainability and ambitious zero net carbon and waste free targets means that graduates are entering the industry as it transforms further. However, there are challenges that our ARUL graduates are uniquely prepared to face in the sector such as recruitment and retention issues, certain projects been held up or having reduced funding due to EU regulations and connectivity in parts of the country needing scaling and development.

References

ONS (2024). Travel trends - Office for National Statistics. [online] www.ons.gov.uk. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/leisureandtourism/articles/traveltrends/2023.

VisitBritain (2024). England Visitor Attractions: latest. [online] Available at: https://www.visitbritain.org/research-insights/england-visitor-attractions-latest.