The survey reports participation in leisure day visits by the adult population (16 years and over) and estimates the scale and value of visits for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). It provides information on how often people undertake leisure visits, how much they spend, what they do and the characteristics of visits and visitors.
The survey was undertaken by:
Countryside Agency (now part of Natural England), Countryside Council for Wales,
British Waterways, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Scottish Natural Heritage, VisitBritain, VisitScotland, Wales Tourist Board.
Survey findings
Overall, for England, the leisure day visits are down from the previous survey in 1998 by 14 per cent from 5.2 billion trips in 1998 to 4.5 billion in 2002/3.
Average expenditure per leisure day visit increased slightly from £13.20 in 1998 to £13.50 in 2002/3. However, total expenditure decreased, due to the lower number of trips, from £69.9 billion in 1998 to £61.9 billion in England for 2002/3.
The four most popular activities were: going out for a meal or drink (18 per cent), walking, hill walking, rambling (16 per cent), visiting friends and relatives (14 per cent), shopping (12 per cent).
The survey series data is lodged with:
UK Data Archive
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
Essex CO4 3SQ
Tel: 01206 872143