Five and a half million foreign visitors arrived in the UK via Gatwick in 2017 - spending 40.3 million nights in the country, contributing £4.7 billion to GDP and supporting 93,000 jobs - according to a new Oxford Economics report on the airport's impact on the 'Visitor Economy' published today.
In addition, £1.2 billion was added to the UK Exchequer - enough to cover the salaries of 46,000 nurses or 36,000 teachers - through taxes on transactions, wages and profits generated by businesses serving these overseas visitors.
The report, commissioned by the Gatwick Growth Board, also shows that the UK economy receives a £200 million GDP, 4000 job boost every time 100,000 more passengers from Asia arrive at Gatwick - highlighting the importance of the airport's recent new routes to Hong Kong, Chongqing, Tianjin and Taipei, with other new routes to Asia expected soon.
Passengers visiting from Asia are shown to spend an average £1185 per visit - compared to the £705 overall average - with those arriving from USA (£1021), Australia (£1047) and the 'Rest of Americas' (£1117) also spending considerably more.
The report formed the basis of three roundtables - hosted by the Gatwick Growth Board - where national, regional and local stakeholders discussed how Gatwick can grow its contribution to both national, regional and local economies.
The report's special analysis shows that just over half (56%) of foreign visitors' overnight stays were in London, a quarter (24%) were across the South East region, with the rest spread around the rest of the UK - boosting spending through airfares, taxis, rail tickets, hotel stays, restaurant meals, retail purchase and visits to leisure and cultural attractions.
Overseas visitors however are only part of Gatwick's visitor economy as 1.6 million visitors arrived from other parts of UK last year - spending 5.2 million nights - and contributed £588 million to GDP and 12,700 jobs. These visitors were principally from Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Other findings:
- More than four fifths of visitors were from Europe - with Spain, Italy and France the top three origin countries - followed by USA
- Around a fifth of visitors from Germany, Denmark, Holland and Ireland came on business
- Visitors from Africa (15 nights), Australia (13), Asia (13) and Canada (12) stayed the longest (on average)
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