With Summer in full swing now, many Brits are hoping to book a last-minute trip abroad without breaking the bank. Unfortunately, inflation and the rising cost of living have made travelling more expensive than ever.
While some might have decided to cut down on travel costs in 2023, many have not yet given up their plans for an exotic holiday this Summer. Last year, fares and other travel costs soared to unprecedented levels – in July 2022, travel-related costs rose by 19.2% year-over-year, according to the Office for National Statistics. Still, Brits’ spending abroad dropped by a mere 6.1% when compared to the pre-pandemic levels, data shows. Since costs are only up slightly from last year, travel stats for the summer of 2023 look like they will remain more or less unchanged.
In light of this the data analysis team at DealsDaddy decided to explore the most affordable and the most expensive countries for a summer vacation for British travellers. We also ranked the countries where people from the UK are spending the most money abroad. In order to prepare this report we pulled and analysed data from the annual estimates on visits and spending by UK residents abroad published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The Most Affordable Destinations for Brits in Europe
Greece and Russia were, until a few years ago, considered more affordable options for tourists. This is no longer the case, however, according to the ONS data. Still, in many destinations, travellers from the UK spent less money per day last year compared to 2019. The countries in Europe with the most significant declines in daily spending by Brits are Finland (-40.68%), Slovakia (-22.86%), and Lithuania (-16.67%).
The European country where Brits are spending the least on a daily basis is Slovakia with only £27 per day on average. It is followed by Romania and Lithuania with £40 in average daily expenses for Brits that travel there.
The Most Affordable Destinations for Brits outside of Europe
Our study shows that in some countries in Asia, Australia, and Africa, per-day spending has decreased at higher rates than most of Europe. A good example is Nigeria where Brits spent £34 on average per day in 2022 compared to £52 in 2019.
The other countries outside of Europe with the most significant declines in per-day spending are Hong Kong (-31.82%), New Zealand (-30.91%), South Africa (-26.39%), and Egypt (-22.58%).
With just £26 spent per day, Pakistan leads the ranking as the most affordable country for travellers from the UK.
The Most Expensive Countries for Brits in Europe
Interestingly, Luxemburg which is the most expensive country in Europe for UK travellers (£126 average per-day spending) only ranks 7th in terms of cost increase percentage (5.88%). Russia, is the destination where the average spending per day by Brits escalated the most – between 2019 and 2022, spending skyrocketed by 194% to £100 per day.
When it comes to the average amount spent per day, Luxemburg is followed by Switzerland (£115), Austria (£108), and Belgium and Russia (£100 each).
The Most Expensive Countries for Brits outside Europe
As seen above, Barbados is a good example for the rising costs of travel over the past few years. Fewer Brits visited the island nation last year, but they spent more money compared to 2019. The number of visits dropped by 6.8% while spending rose by 57.2%. This prompted our team to look at the average spending per visit and, more precisely, per day, as calculated by the ONS.
It turns out that the daily cost for travellers from the UK in Barbados increased by 87% between 2019 and 2022. In fact, with an average daily spending of £170 in 2022, this is the most expensive travel destination for Brits. The second and third least affordable countries were the UAE and the US with average daily expenditures of £144 (a 39.81% increase) and £119 (a 20.20% increase), respectively.
The countries where Brits spent the Most Money abroad in 2022
Last year, travelling Brits spent £58.536 billion abroad, down 6.1% from the money spent in 2019, or roughly £3.8 billion. At the same time, the drop in the number of visits was much more significant at 23.8% – from 93.1 million in 2019, trips abroad fell to 71 million in 2022. This suggests that travel has become more expensive – everything from airfares to hotel stays and restaurant meals.
Despite the rising costs and tighter budgets, Spain remains the favourite destination of British travellers, with 15.6 million visits recorded last year. This is also where travellers are spending the most money.
1. Spain
Brits spent roughly £11.058 billion in Spain last year, up 1.3% from 2019. The number of trips to the country, however, dropped by 14% or 2.5 million. This could easily be explained by inflation. Another reason could be a new rule in Spain, following Brexit, which requires Brits to prove that they have funds of £85 (€100) per day to cover their stay in the country, now that they are no longer EU citizens. Dozens of reports in British media warned travellers of the new policy, but according to Spanish publications, the requirement applies to everyone from outside the Schengen Area, and has been in effect since 2009.
2. USA
With £5.286 billion spent by Brits last year, the U.S. remains in second place for money spent by travellers from the United Kingdom. Spending in the United States dropped by 11.4% between 2019 and 2022. The decrease in visits was even sharper, dropping by 29% to 3.4 million during the same period. In the midst of the energy and cost of living crisis, the increased airfares probably stopped many people from flying across the pond.
3. France
France follows as the third country in terms of money spent by Brits. Last year, travellers spent £4.923 billion. This is a decline of 5.4% from 2019, reflecting a downturn in the number of trips made. According to the ONS data, visits to France dropped by 28% between 2019 and 2022 to 7.4 million.
4. Greece
Greece overtook Italy for the fourth spot in terms of spending by British travellers last year. Figures show that £3.262 billion was spent there by Brits, up 39.8% from pre-pandemic times. The number of visits increased only slightly, on the other hand – by roughly 7.3%.
5. Italy
There were more visits to Italy than to Greece last year – Brits visited Italy around 4 million times compared to 3.7 million visits to Greece. However, in terms of spending, Italy comes fifth on this list with £2.840 billion spent last year by travellers from the UK.
Other Notable Countries
With £2.515 billion, Portugal came sixth in terms of spending by travelling Brits in 2022. The figures saw a significant rise from 2019 – spending rose by 23.5% for this period. Visits also increased – there were 332,000 more trips from the UK to Portugal last year. Spending in Turkey nearly doubled between 2019 and 2022 (up 46.2%), with Brits spending 2.113 billion in 2022 in the country.
The United Arab Emirates and Poland come next – travellers from the UK spent £1.644 billion and £1.208 billion, respectively, in these two countries. One of the nations that saw a sharp decline in visits from the UK – and in money spent by travelling Brits – was, surprisingly, Ireland. The number of trips to the Republic of Ireland dropped by 41%. This resulted in lower spending, of course – in 2022, spending shrank by 24.3% from 2019 to £1.138 billion.
How Did the Spending Habits of Brits Change in 2022?
The Covid-19 pandemic posed serious challenges for travellers and the travel industry, but once governments started lifting their restrictions, 2022 introduced new obstacles. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, inflation and the energy crisis all contributed to the much increased cost of living in the United Kingdom.
The decline of roughly a fifth in the number of visits abroad shows that many Brits decided to save on travel last year. There is a clear downward trend in visits for the majority of destinations, including the most preferred ones such as Spain, France, and Italy. In some of these places, however, fewer travellers spent more money, as they had to pay more for flights, accommodation, and various other goods and services.
Several countries saw an influx of UK residents in 2022. There was a sharp increase in the number of trips and spending by British travellers in Egypt – visits increased by 55% to 267K in 2022 and spending doubled to £258 million. Increased interest in generally cheaper destinations like Turkey, Greece and Nigeria also led to a rise in spending.
A notable boost in spending could be seen in Egypt (100%), Barbados (57%), Turkey (46%), Greece (40%), Portugal (24%), and Nigeria (23%). Not all of this can be explained by the increase in travellers from the UK, however, or the recovery of the tourism sector after two years of restrictions, travel bans, and cancelled flights due to the pandemic. The reason behind the increased spending by Brits in Barbados, for example, was the elevated costs in this country, which is packed with luxury hotels and expensive resorts.
Raw Data
| Countries ranked by the Average Daily Spending of UK travellers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Average spending per day in 2019 (£) | Average spending per day in 2022 (£) | Change in % |
| Barbados | £91 | £170 | 86.81% |
| United Arab Emirates | £103 | £144 | 39.81% |
| Luxembourg | £119 | £126 | 5.88% |
| USA | £99 | £119 | 20.20% |
| Switzerland | £91 | £115 | 26.37% |
| Austria | £109 | £108 | -0.92% |
| Belgium | £85 | £100 | 17.65% |
| Russia | £34 | £100 | 194.12% |
| Netherlands | £93 | £97 | 4.30% |
| Greece | £76 | £93 | 22.37% |
| Malta | £77 | £92 | 19.48% |
| Mexico | £96 | £91 | -5.21% |
| France | £71 | £87 | 22.54% |
| Jamaica | £85 | £87 | 2.35% |
| Italy | £84 | £85 | 1.19% |
| Cyprus | £60 | £82 | 36.67% |
| Sweden | £57 | £82 | 43.86% |
| Germany | £83 | £81 | -2.41% |
| Spain | £69 | £81 | 17.39% |
| Denmark | £66 | £80 | 21.21% |
| Portugal | £73 | £80 | 9.59% |
| Norway | £87 | £79 | -9.20% |
| Turkey | £57 | £75 | 31.58% |
| Israel | £80 | £72 | -10.00% |
| Finland | £118 | £70 | -40.68% |
| Thailand | £67 | £69 | 2.99% |
| Republic of Ireland | £67 | £67 | 0.00% |
| Canada | £59 | £65 | 10.17% |
| Czech Republic | £71 | £64 | -9.86% |
| Hungary | £59 | £62 | 5.08% |
| Morocco | £74 | £62 | -16.22% |
| Japan | £132 | £58 | -56.06% |
| Australia | £63 | £56 | -11.11% |
| South Africa | £72 | £53 | -26.39% |
| Sri Lanka | £41 | £52 | 26.83% |
| Egypt | £62 | £48 | -22.58% |
| Tunisia | £40 | £46 | 15.00% |
| Brazil | £55 | £46 | -16.36% |
| Bulgaria | £44 | £45 | 2.27% |
| Poland | £45 | £44 | -2.22% |
| Lithuania | £48 | £40 | -16.67% |
| Romania | £44 | £40 | -9.09% |
| New Zealand | £55 | £38 | -30.91% |
| Nigeria | £52 | £34 | -34.62% |
| India | £36 | £31 | -13.89% |
| Hong Kong (China) | £44 | £30 | -31.82% |
| Slovakia | £35 | £27 | -22.86% |
| Pakistan | £22 | £26 | 18.18% |
| Countries where Brits spent the most money abroad in 2022 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Spending in 2019 (£ million) | Spending in 2022 (£ million) | Change in % |
| Spain | 10,920 | 11,058 | 1.3% |
| USA | 5,963 | 5,286 | -11.4% |
| France | 5,206 | 4,923 | -5.4% |
| Greece | 2,334 | 3,262 | 39.8% |
| Italy | 3,083 | 2,840 | -7.9% |
| Portugal | 2,037 | 2,515 | 23.5% |
| Turkey | 1,445 | 2,113 | 46.2% |
| United Arab Emirates | 1,416 | 1,644 | 16.1% |
| Poland | 1,328 | 1,208 | -9.0% |
| Republic of Ireland | 1,503 | 1,138 | -24.3% |
| India | 1,222 | 1,118 | -8.5% |
| Germany | 1,585 | 1,045 | -34.1% |
| Mexico | 849 | 947 | 11.5% |
| Romania | 823 | 925 | 12.4% |
| Netherlands | 1,342 | 912 | -32.0% |
| Canada | 671 | 731 | 8.9% |
| Switzerland | 690 | 687 | -0.4% |
| Cyprus | 809 | 544 | -32.8% |
| Thailand | 844 | 538 | -36.3% |
| Austria | 508 | 481 | -5.3% |
| Pakistan | 498 | 479 | -3.8% |
| Belgium | 620 | 449 | -27.6% |
| Barbados | 271 | 426 | 57.2% |
| Australia | 1,006 | 405 | -59.7% |
| Bulgaria | 391 | 400 | 2.3% |
| Morocco | 498 | 397 | -20.3% |
| Malta | 438 | 365 | -16.7% |
| South Africa | 633 | 357 | -43.6% |
| Jamaica | 418 | 352 | -15.8% |
| Nigeria | 239 | 293 | 22.6% |
| Hungary | 392 | 271 | -30.9% |
| Egypt | 129 | 258 | 100.0% |
| Norway | 319 | 250 | -21.6% |
| Denmark | 209 | 231 | 10.5% |
| Sweden | 215 | 214 | -0.5% |
| Brazil | 198 | 210 | 6.1% |
| Czech Republic | 306 | 184 | -39.9% |
| Finland | 146 | 146 | 0.0% |
| Lithuania | 254 | 144 | -43.3% |
| Sri Lanka | 194 | 126 | -35.1% |
| Hong Kong (China) | 386 | 125 | -67.6% |
| Israel | 145 | 119 | -17.9% |
| Japan | 785 | 105 | -86.6% |
| Tunisia | 144 | 79 | -45.1% |
| Russia | 118 | 70 | -40.7% |
| Slovakia | 88 | 57 | -35.2% |
| New Zealand | 258 | 44 | -82.9% |
| Luxembourg | 31 | 32 | 3.2% |