In its latest travel and tourism research released on 23 December, the Office for National Statistics found people from the UK spent £5.8 billion overseas in September 2019.

This is up 10% on September 2018, despite that UK residents only made 2% more trips in that period - up to 7.8 million trips. 

Tourists coming to the UK also spent more, with £2.4 billion contributed to the economy over 3.1 million visits during that month. 

Although that represents 21% more spent compared to last year, over only 3% more trips, September 2018 saw unusually low expenditure. 

“Once Christmas Day is done and dusted for another year, consumers’ thoughts will turn very quickly to their next holiday in sunnier climes and with today’s ONS figures showing that almost eight million of us headed overseas in September alone, the end of the summer break for many, travel operators will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of a rush of bookings for next summer," said Mike Saul, head of hospitality and leisure at Barclays.

"On the flip side, the number of overseas travellers coming to the UK in the same month topped three million and they spent a cool £2.4 billion here showing that visitors just can’t seem to get enough of destination UK and its enduring appeal as a world-class holiday destination.

"In an increasingly competitive global travel market place, these figures should be encouraging to the UK tourism industry."