Rural tourism is a substantial part of England’s visitor economy, supporting businesses and jobs while attracting domestic and international visitors to countryside, village, heritage and outdoor destinations. The figures below cover different periods and measures, so each statistic is labelled by its geography and measurement year.
Contents
- Economic value of rural tourism
- Rural tourism businesses and employment
- Domestic countryside and village holidays
- Rural travel patterns and car dependence
- Nature, heritage and outdoor recreation
- Rural day visits and spending
Economic value of rural tourism
The Statistical Digest of Rural England: Tourism estimated that tourism generated £11,530 million of gross value added in predominantly rural areas of England in 2018. Gross value added, or GVA, measures the contribution of economic activity to the economy before some taxes and subsidies are considered. In the same year, predominantly rural areas had total GVA of £260,645 million.
Tourism therefore accounted for 4% of total GVA in predominantly rural areas in 2018. The same source estimated £96,355 million of tourism GVA across England, where tourism represented 6% of England’s total GVA. These figures show both the scale of tourism nationally and its importance within rural economies, even though tourism’s share of rural-area GVA was lower than its share across England as a whole.
The rural estimate was higher in the preceding observation: tourism generated £13,270 million of GVA in predominantly rural areas in 2017, equal to 5% of their total GVA. The 2017 and 2018 observations should be kept in their original periods; they are historical estimates, not current-year measurements. They also should not be read as a precise annual trend without further context, because the published figures use a defined rural classification and tourism-related economic measures.
| Measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Tourism GVA in predominantly rural England | 2018 | £11,530 million |
| Total GVA in predominantly rural England | 2018 | £260,645 million |
| Tourism share of rural-area GVA | 2018 | 4% |
| Tourism GVA across England | 2018 | £96,355 million |
| Tourism share of England’s GVA | 2018 | 6% |
Source: Statistical Digest of Rural England: Tourism.
Rural tourism businesses and employment
More recent business and employment figures are reported in the Digest of Rural England: 7 – Rural Economic Bulletin. In 2023/24, rural England had 67,800 tourism-related registered local business units. These businesses represented 12% of all registered rural business units.
The same linked classification counted 578,000 jobs in tourism-related rural business units in 2023/24. Tourism-related employment represented 15% of all rural employment. The figures indicate that tourism has a broad labour-market footprint in rural places, alongside its role in generating economic value.
Settlement size matters within the rural total. Smaller rural settlements had 44,000 tourism-related business units in 2023/24. Those businesses accounted for 409,000 jobs and represented 11% of all business units in smaller rural settlements. Tourism-related employment represented 15% of total employment in these settlements.
Larger rural settlements had 23,800 tourism-related business units in the same period. Their tourism-related businesses accounted for 169,000 jobs. The business and job counts are not interchangeable: the first measures registered local business units, while the second measures jobs associated with tourism-related businesses.
The bulletin’s classification is important when interpreting these results. Tourism-related business counts use linked Standard Industrial Classification categories rather than a standalone tourism SIC. That means the figures describe businesses and employment in selected tourism-related categories; they do not necessarily capture every activity that a visitor might consider part of rural tourism.
Domestic countryside and village holidays
The Community and Engagement Survey 2025/26 – domestic tourism report found that 63% of people aged 16 and over in England took a domestic holiday during the 12 months covered by the 2025/26 survey. Among people who took a domestic holiday, 28% stayed in the countryside or a village.
Holiday duration was concentrated in shorter and medium-length breaks. Among English domestic holiday-takers, 37% stayed for 1 to 2 nights, while 46% stayed for 3 to 6 nights. A further 13% stayed for 7 to 10 nights, and 3% stayed for more than 10 nights. These percentages describe the duration distribution among domestic holiday-takers, not the share of all residents taking each length of holiday.
Countryside and village trips also connected with cultural tourism. The survey reported that 44% of people who took a domestic holiday in England visited a museum, gallery, heritage or cultural site or event during the 2025/26 period. This provides a useful indication of how rural breaks can overlap with heritage and cultural experiences, although the measure is for domestic holiday-takers across England rather than for rural visitors alone.
The South West recorded a higher overall domestic-tourism engagement figure than England as a whole: 68% compared with 63% in 2025/26. This is a regional measure of engagement with domestic tourism, not a countryside-only holiday rate, so it should not be treated as a direct estimate of rural tourism demand in the region.
Rural travel patterns and car dependence
Travel conditions shape how visitors and residents reach rural destinations. The National Travel Survey 2021: Travel by region and rural and urban classification of residence reported that residents of rural villages, hamlets and isolated dwellings made an average of 769 trips per person in England in 2021. They travelled an average of 6,449 miles per person.
Residents of urban conurbations made an average of 748 trips per person and travelled 3,661 miles per person in the same year. The number of trips was relatively similar between the two classifications, but the rural mileage measure was higher. These are travel patterns of residents, rather than visitor-only statistics, and the observation is from 2021.
Car ownership and mode share help explain the accessibility challenge. Only 5% of households in rural villages, hamlets and isolated dwellings had no car in 2021, while 58% had two or more cars. In urban conurbations, 33% of households had no car and 23% had two or more cars.
Cars accounted for 75% of all trips by residents of the most rural areas in England in 2021. Bus and rail together accounted for 1% of trips by residents of those areas. For rural tourism, these figures point to a visitor economy that is strongly shaped by road access and private-car availability, while also highlighting the limited combined share of bus and rail in the most rural places.
Nature, heritage and outdoor recreation
Outdoor landscapes are a major part of rural tourism’s appeal. The Enclosed farmland natural capital accounts, UK reported 866 million outdoor recreation and tourism visits to enclosed farmland in the UK in 2023. The annual value of those visits was £895 million across the UK, including £687 million for England.
Inbound visitor data provides a separate view of countryside and heritage demand. VisitBritain’s Activities and experiences page reported 5.903 million inbound visits involving a trip to the countryside or villages in 2024. That represented 15% of all inbound visits to Britain and generated £7,059 million of UK spending.
National parks attracted 4.023 million inbound visits in 2024, or 10% of all inbound visits to Britain, and generated £4,866 million of UK spending. Walking, hiking or rambling appeared in 17.218 million inbound visits, representing 45% of all inbound visits. Walking in the countryside was involved in 8.751 million inbound visits, or 21%.
Heritage and gardens were also prominent. Visiting castles or historic houses was involved in 11.183 million inbound visits in 2024, representing 29% of all inbound visits to Britain, and generated £12,292 million of UK spending. Visiting parks or gardens was involved in 14.573 million inbound visits, representing 37%.
These VisitBritain measures cover inbound visits to Britain, not domestic tourism in England. The 2024 activity estimates were released in 2025 and may be revised. They are therefore useful indicators of international visitor activity, but they are not directly comparable with the England domestic-tourism survey figures above.
Rural day visits and spending
Day trips add another large layer of demand. The England Domestic Tourism Day Visits Summary – All Purposes – 2019 recorded 1,389.8 million domestic tourism day visits for all purposes in England in 2019. These visits generated £56,500 million of spending.
Village or countryside destinations accounted for 299.0 million domestic tourism day visits in England in 2019. They represented 22% of all domestic tourism day visits and generated £8,864 million of spending. The destination category captures day visits associated with villages or countryside; it is not the same measure as overnight domestic holidays or inbound visits.
The South West recorded 147.8 million domestic tourism day visits in 2019, generating £4,967 million of spending. This regional total includes all purposes, so it should not be read as a countryside-only South West figure. It does, however, place rural and coastal visitor activity within the wider scale of the region’s domestic day-visit economy.
The 2019 observations are retained as historical measures. Together with the 2025/26 domestic holiday results, the 2024 inbound activity estimates and the 2023 outdoor recreation accounts, they show several distinct dimensions of rural tourism: overnight demand, day visits, resident travel, international activity, employment and the value people place on outdoor access.