Devon is England’s third-largest visitor economy, with nearly 700 km of coastline, more than 6,700 sq km of countryside and annual visitor spend of £2.3 billion. The county’s tourism economy includes 23.4 million staying visitor nights, 23.9 million day visits and more than 50,000 tourism jobs, according to Visit Devon LVEP. The figures below also give a detailed 2016 baseline from Devonomics: Devon & districts 2016, whose historical figures have not been independently verified here.
Contents
- Devon’s tourism economy at a glance
- Visitors, nights and day visits
- Tourism spending in Devon
- Domestic and overseas staying visitors
- Why visitors come to Devon
- Tourism businesses, beds and employment
Devon’s tourism economy at a glance
Visit Devon LVEP describes a large county-wide visitor economy with activity across coastal destinations, countryside and urban areas. Devon & Partners LVEP was established in April 2024. Its stated ambition was to grow the value of the visitor economy by £300 million annually by 2030.
The current headline measures supplied by Visit Devon LVEP are:
- Annual visitor spend: £2.3 billion.
- Staying visitor nights: 23.4 million.
- Annual day visits: 23.9 million.
- Day-visit spend: £944 million.
- Tourism businesses: 4,876.
- Serviced accommodation beds: 48,078.
- Tourism jobs: over 50,919, equivalent to 9% of employment.
These measures describe different parts of the market. Staying visitor nights count nights spent by visitors who stay overnight, while day visits count visits without an overnight stay. Spend is also presented separately for the overall visitor economy and for day visits, so the measures should not be added together as if they were identical categories.
Devon’s physical scale helps set the context for these totals. Visit Devon LVEP records nearly 700 km of coastline and over 6,700 sq km of countryside. Those geography figures are descriptions of Devon’s area and coastline, rather than visitor-volume measures.
Visitors, nights and day visits
The 2016 Devonomics baseline recorded approximately 5.7 million staying visitor trips and approximately 24 million staying visitor nights in Devon. It also recorded £1.359 billion in staying visitor spend. In the South West comparison, Devon accounted for 23% of all staying trips, 25% of staying nights and 24% of staying spend in 2016.
The difference between trips and nights is important. A trip is an arrival or visit episode, while nights measure the duration of overnight stays. The 2016 figures therefore show both the scale of demand and the amount of time visitors spent in the county, without requiring an assumed average stay.
Staying visitor activity represented 57% of all direct visitor expenditure in Devon in 2016, according to Devonomics: Devon & districts 2016. This is a share of direct visitor expenditure, not a share of all current visitor spending, and it belongs specifically to the 2016 historical dataset.
The more recent Visit Devon LVEP figures report 23.4 million staying visitor nights and 23.9 million day visits annually. The source does not specify a measurement year in the supplied facts, so these figures are presented as annual measures rather than assigned to a particular calendar year. They should not be treated as a direct time-series comparison with the 2016 Devonomics estimates.
| Measure | Figure | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| Staying visitor trips | Approximately 5.7 million | Devonomics, 2016 |
| Staying visitor nights | Approximately 24 million | Devonomics, 2016 |
| Staying visitor nights | 23.4 million annually | Visit Devon LVEP, annual measure |
| Day visits | 23.9 million annually | Visit Devon LVEP, annual measure |
Tourism spending in Devon
Devon’s supplied spending measures range from the county-wide current headline to detailed historical categories. Visit Devon LVEP reports annual visitor spend of £2.3 billion and £944 million generated by day visits. The day-visit figure is a component-specific measure and should be kept distinct from the broader annual visitor-spend figure.
For staying visitors in 2016, Devonomics recorded £1.359 billion in total staying visitor spend. Domestic staying spend was £1.153319 billion, while overseas staying spend was £205.197 million. The historical dataset therefore provides a split between domestic and overseas overnight demand as well as the combined staying total.
The 2016 domestic holiday market generated £991.881 million. Domestic business travel generated £92.661 million, domestic visits to friends and relatives generated £45.052 million, and domestic “other” travel generated £23.724 million. On the overseas side, holiday spend was £74.415 million, business spend was £71.331 million and visits to friends and relatives generated £20.251 million.
These categories describe staying visitor spend in the 2016 Devonomics dataset. They are not a forecast and should not be combined with the annual Visit Devon LVEP measures to produce a new total. The categories also show why trip purpose matters when interpreting the value of tourism: a visitor travelling for business, a holiday or to see friends and relatives is counted within a different segment.
Domestic and overseas staying visitors
Domestic visitors made up the larger part of Devon’s recorded overnight market in 2016. There were 5.220 million domestic staying trips and 20.111 million domestic staying nights. Overseas visitors accounted for 469,000 staying trips and 3.5 million staying nights.
The domestic figures included 4.389 million holiday trips and 17.849 million holiday nights. Domestic business travel accounted for 384,000 trips and 1.006 million nights. Domestic visits to friends and relatives accounted for 331,000 trips and 900,000 nights, while domestic “other” travel accounted for 115,000 trips and 355,000 nights.
Overseas staying travel was divided into 191,000 holiday trips and 1.055 million holiday nights; 204,000 business trips and 1.538 million business nights; and 54,000 visits to friends and relatives with 255,000 nights. The historical source gives these as separate 2016 counts, so they should be read as reported categories rather than recalculated estimates.
| Visitor market and purpose | Trips in 2016 | Nights in 2016 | Spend in 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic staying visitors | 5.220 million | 20.111 million | £1.153319 billion |
| Overseas staying visitors | 469,000 | 3.5 million | £205.197 million |
| Domestic holidays | 4.389 million | 17.849 million | £991.881 million |
| Domestic business | 384,000 | 1.006 million | £92.661 million |
| Domestic visits to friends and relatives | 331,000 | 900,000 | £45.052 million |
| Overseas holidays | 191,000 | 1.055 million | £74.415 million |
| Overseas business | 204,000 | 1.538 million | £71.331 million |
| Overseas visits to friends and relatives | 54,000 | 255,000 | £20.251 million |
The domestic and overseas totals are not identical in scope to every purpose line shown in the table: the source also reports domestic “other” travel at 115,000 trips, 355,000 nights and £23.724 million, and overseas “other” figures were not supplied. Keeping the reported lines separate avoids filling that gap with an unsupported calculation.
Why visitors come to Devon
Holiday travel was the dominant purpose of staying trips in the 2016 Devonomics breakdown. Holiday trips accounted for 81% of all staying trips in Devon. Business trips accounted for 10%, visits to friends and relatives accounted for 7%, and “other” trips accounted for 2%.
The purpose shares total 100% and provide a concise view of the market mix. They are shares of staying trips, not shares of nights or spend. A purpose with a smaller trip share can still have a different pattern of nights or spending, as illustrated by the separate business and holiday night and spend figures in the 2016 dataset.
Domestic holiday travel alone accounted for 4.389 million trips and 17.849 million nights in 2016. Overseas holidays added 191,000 trips and 1.055 million nights. The source also recorded business travel across both markets: 384,000 domestic business trips and 204,000 overseas business trips. These figures show the distinct contribution of leisure and business demand without assuming that either segment has remained unchanged since 2016.
For readers exploring the Blackdown Hills and wider Devon, the county-wide figures are useful context rather than a local forecast. The supplied statistics cover Devon as a whole, and none of the quantified measures is separately assigned to the Blackdown Hills.
Tourism businesses, beds and employment
Visit Devon LVEP reports 4,876 tourism businesses and 48,078 serviced accommodation beds. Together, those figures indicate the scale of the formal tourism supply described by the source. “Serviced accommodation beds” is a specific accommodation measure and does not represent every possible visitor bed or every type of overnight capacity.
Tourism employment was reported in two different periods and measures. Visit Devon LVEP reports over 50,919 tourism jobs, equal to 9% of employment. The 2016 Devonomics dataset reports 47,284 tourism-related full-time equivalents, equal to 12% of all employment in the county.
The job totals should not be presented as a direct increase from 47,284 to 50,919. One measure is described as tourism jobs and the other as tourism-related FTEs; they also come from different source contexts, and only the 2016 figure has an explicit measurement year in the supplied facts. The employment percentages likewise use different reported bases and should remain labelled with their source and period.
| Employment measure | Figure | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| Tourism jobs | Over 50,919; 9% of employment | Visit Devon LVEP, annual measure |
| Tourism-related employment | 47,284 FTEs; 12% of county employment | Devonomics, 2016 |
The county’s visitor-economy strategy was associated with a plan to grow visitor-economy value by £300 million annually by 2030. That is a planned growth objective, not a recorded outcome or a forecast that should be treated as achieved.
Taken together, the available measures show a broad Devon tourism economy: millions of overnight and day visits, £2.3 billion in annual visitor spend in the Visit Devon LVEP headline, a detailed 2016 split between domestic and overseas staying travel, 4,876 tourism businesses, 48,078 serviced accommodation beds and tens of thousands of tourism-related jobs. The geography and employment figures are county-wide context for visitors planning time in Devon, including the Blackdown Hills, rather than statistics for the hills alone.