Consumer finances and travel costs ‘main concerns’ of tourist boards

The personal finances of UK holidaymakers and the cost of travel to destinations are the “main concerns” of tourism boards in the UK, according to a new survey.

 

A survey of half of the members of the Association of National Tourist Offices and Representatives (Antor) in September 2025 and January 2026 found 61% of respondents were concerned these two factors would have an impact on UK tourism to their destinations.

 

This was followed by new consumer trends and interests (39%), accommodation costs (33%) and other global conflict or geopolitical tensions (28%).

 

Other factors highlighted included supply shortages, such as a lack of accommodation, as well as heatwaves, uncertainty around weather, overcrowding or overtourism and trade tensions or tariffs.

 

Despite this, tourism boards were “very optimistic” that British visitor numbers would grow in 2026 and beyond and Antor members were described as “performing ahead of the total market”.

 

More than half (53%) of members who were surveyed said the level of UK tourism was “better than pre-pandemic”, while 33% said it was worse.

 

A total of 83% “welcomed more UK tourists in 2025 than in 2024”, with an average increase of 4%.

 

The majority (89%) were “optimistic” about UK tourism in 2026, with growth expected each quarter.

 

The overall picture differed when members were divided into short-haul sunshine, short-haul discovery, long-haul sunshine and long-haul discovery categories.

 

Short-haul sunshine and long-haul discovery recorded the highest numbers for those seeing more UK tourists than pre-pandemic, in 2025 compared to 2024 and being positive for 2026.

 

Destinations in all categories registered “high concern” about finances of holidaymakers, while short-haul sunshine reported a high level of concern for politics and conflict, destination reasons and environment and weather.

 

Local experiences, luxury travel and lesser-known destinations were the most anticipated trends by Antor members in the survey, with 70%, 65% and 65% of respondents expecting these to grow in importance for UK visitors in 2026 and beyond.

 

Presenting the findings to Antor members, Jon Young, audience research director at Decision House, said: “We are in this climate of the [UK] public continually feeling things are getting harder and more expensive [based on Office for National Statistics figures on the perception of cost-of-living] and their decision-making sits within that.

 

“But the level of savings has also been increasing over the same time [since 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics], so there is wiggle room with some members of the public, so it is a more nuanced picture.”

 

He highlighted “price divergence” with entry level pricing remaining “stable” while prices for “high-end experiences” are increasing.

 

“There is quite a large segment of the population that can afford expensive high-end experiences and holidays are a priority,” he said.

 

Young also highlighted seven months in 2025 set records for high temperatures and three others for rainfall, which would impact on people’s holiday destination choices.

 

“People are making decisions within this context, as last year saw some of the hottest weather we have seen,” he said. “Customers may avoid hot weather, for example – that will have a strong impact [on destinations].”

 

He added: “We could think these findings are quite gloomy and negative, but it is a positive picture for outbound tourism.”