Britain to overtake US in numbers travelling abroad
British travellers will outnumber American travellers by 2015, according to research released today by Mintel.
The market research company predicts that while Germany will continue to have the most people travelling abroad, Britain will overtake the US into second place by 2015. It estimates that 108.5 million British people will travel overseas in 12 years time, compared to 86.5 million Americans.
While the US may be being overtaken in terms of the number of its citizens travelling abroad, it continues to have the biggest spenders. In 2001 American tourists spent nearly US$60 billion travelling abroad, accounting for some 11% of the entire world’s tourism expenditure. This puts it ahead of Germany with just over US$46.2 billion and the UK with US$36.5 billion. However it is down from a spend of US$64 billion in 2000, as a result of the economic downturn and the decline in the number of Americans travelling abroad from 61 million in 2000 to 58 million just a year later.
Mintel research analyst Richard Cope pointed out: “Although a full recovery cannot be expected before 2004, there is no danger at all that the USA will relinquish its position as the number one spender.”
According to Mintel the global outbound tourism market is “on the road to recovery” with Germany, the UK and the USA expected to generate over 240 million arrivals by 2005, compared to fewer than 185 million arrivals in 1999.
“The forecasts for 2005 show the true resilience of tourists worldwide, despite the continuing economic depression, security fears and the recent outbreak of SARS,” said Mr Cope.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Global tourism exceeds 1.5 billion travelers announces UN-Tourism
Qatar Airways offers reduced timetable to over 60 destinations
WTTC global tourism reached record economic impact of 11 trillion in 2025
Hands In, UATP join forces for airline multi-card payments
Overseas travelers to the United States declined by 2.5% in 2025