Use our industry guide to find key background information, market research, import and export guidelines, statistics, legislation, trade bodies and trade publications.
The Business & Industry Guides series is produced by the Library & Information Service for ICAEW members and ACA students.
We can compile tailored key players reports, mailing lists, market reports, benchmarking reports and industry news. Our enquiry team can also research other industry-specific information, such as taxation, for you. Call us on +44 (0)20 7920 8620 or email library@icaew.com.
Trends and forecasts
2023 Tourism forecast
The annual VisitBritain forecast for the volume and value of inbound tourism to the UK.
OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2022
Report from the OECD analysing tourism performance and policy trends across 50 OECD countries and partner economies. With tourism hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout from the Ukraine crisis, it examines the key tourism recovery challenges and outlook ahead. Published in November 2022.
World Tourism Barometer
Quarterly report from the UN World Tourism Organisation providing insight into short-term tourism trends.
Market research
Market research reports focusing on this business sector are available from a number of market research specialists. In most cases these reports are available to fee-paying subscribers or on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Industry profiles
Industry profiles give an overview of market size in different countries or regions, the competitive landscape and provide a forecast of market performance. These profiles are available for ICAEW members and ACA students through the Library & Information Service.
Reports are available on the tourism sector as a whole, and, for some countries and regions, the travel agent industry specifically.
Africa
Asia
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
North America
Oceania
If you’re looking for industry profiles for regions or countries not listed above, please contact the Library on +44 (0)20 7920 8620 or email library@icaew.com.
If you experience any problems accessing these resources, please see our online resources troubleshooting FAQ.
Other market research specialists
Some free information is available from the following market research specialists, ranging from industry news to executive summaries of the reports.
Euromonitor
A full listing of reference products and research reports for the travel and tourism market from Euromonitor, with a range of global, country and company level reports. Each report
provides a contents listing and a useful executive summary reporting on the key trends in each country report.
IBISWorld
Business and industry research specialists offering reports on a wide range of sectors, including travel agency activities. Report snapshots, table of contents and a sample report are
available. The company also produces global industry research reports.
Mintel
Report from Mintel covering the UK travel agents market. The website includes a summary and the option to view a contents listing.
Industry news
Statistics on the UK
Visit Britain
Visit Britain provides insights and statistics on domestic and overseas visitors, trends and forecasts.
Office for National Statistics
The Annual Business Survey (ABS) from the Office for National Statistics collects financial information covering UK production, construction, distribution and service industries. Statistics available include:
- number of enterprises;
- total turnover;
- approximate gross value added at basic prices;
- total purchases of goods, materials and services;
- total employment costs;
- total net capital expenditure;
- total net capital expenditure – acquisitions;
- total net capital expenditure – disposals;
- total stocks and work in progress – value at end of year;
- total stocks and work in progress – value at beginning of year;
- total stocks and work in progress – increase during year.
The dataset Non-financial business economy, UK: Sections A to S includes statistics for:
- Travel agency and tour operator activities (79.1)
See Section N: Administrative and support service activities.
Statistics on Europe
European Travel Agents' and Tour Operators Associations (ECTAA)
The ECTAA compiles industry statistics on agents and operators in Europe, including turnover figures and numbers of employees.
Eurostat
Eurostat, the EU statistics hub, collates detailed Structural Business Statistics giving the latest figures for industry, construction, trade and services by sector and country. The indicators available include:
- number of enterprises
- turnover or gross premiums written
- production value
- value added at factor cost
- gross operating surplus
- wages and salaries
- social security costs
- gross investment in tangible goods
- gross investment in land
- gross investment in existing buildings and structures
- gross investment in construction and alteration of buildings
- gross investment in machinery and equipment
- number of employees
- number of persons employed per enterprise.
Statistics within the database are available for:
- Travel agency and tour operator activities (N791)
See database section ‘SBS – services’.
Global statistics
OECD
The Tourism Statistics Database from the OECD provides tourism data for member countries and some non-OECD economies including:
- Receipts and expenditure
- Inbound/outbound tourism
- Internal tourism consumption
- Domestic tourism
- Enterprises and employment
- Key tourism indicators
Employment
UK
The Office for National Statistics publication Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) includes average employment costs within this sector which can be found in Table 14. Average employment costs are provided for full-time employees, part-time employees and all employees.
The data includes average employment costs for:
- travel and tour guides; and
- travel agency managers.
The annual Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES), published by the Office for National Statistics, includes total employee and employment estimates for different industries for Great Britain and the UK. Figures are broken down to show full-time/part-time and public/private splits. The dataset Industry – Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES): Table 2 includes statistics for:
- Travel agency and tour operator activities (791)
Other regions
Please see individual country profile pages for links to sources of national statistics.
UK business guides
The Library can supply business guides on this sector to ICAEW members and students.
UK key players, ratios and trends
UK benchmarking
Trade bodies
The websites of trade bodies in this sector are a useful source of industry overviews, contacts and statistics.
UK
- ABTA: the travel association
- Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO)
- Federation of Tour Operators (FTO)
- Group Travel Organisers Association
- Institute of Travel and Meetings (ITM)
- Travel Trust Association
- UKinbound
Europe
Africa
Americas
Asia
- Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)
- Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI)
- Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI)
Oceania
Global
Trade journals and publications
Trade journals, B2B magazines and specialist consumer magazines are another useful source of news and statistics.
Further resources
Travel and tourism industry guide: British Library
British Library industry guides provide listings of resources for industry-specific information, including print directories and materials held by the British Library.
Contact the British Library Business and IP Centre for more information.
Further reading
Articles and books in the Library collection
To find out how you can borrow books from the Library please see our guide to book loans.
You can obtain copies of articles or extracts of books and reports by post or email through our document supply service.
Can't find what you're looking for?
The ICAEW Library can give you the right information from trustworthy, professional sources that aren't freely available online. Contact us for expert help with your enquiries and research.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information given in this Business & Industry Guide is correct. However, the content of websites changes frequently and users should satisfy themselves that the information they contain is suitable for the purposes for which they wish to use it. We would be grateful to receive notification of any broken links at library@icaew.com.
ICAEW accepts no responsibility for the content on any site to which a hypertext link from this site exists. The links are provided ‘as is’ with no warranty, express or implied, for the information provided within them. Please see the full copyright and disclaimer notice.
