Understanding who visits our region, how they travel, and what they spend is central to how Visit West supports its members and shapes the future of tourism across Bristol, Bath and the West of England. This section brings together our core data and insight resources, from monthly performance tracking to annual economic reports, alongside tools to help you understand your own visitors and benchmark against national trends.
Data, Reports and Key Facts and Figures
Visit West's insights draw on a combination of sources, from our own monthly Business Barometer and independently commissioned Annual Volume and Value Report, to national datasets from VisitBritain, VisitEngland and Oxford Economics.
In 2026, we will be introducing a new series of business events exploring data and insights for Visit West members.
Benchmarking and national context
Understanding how our region performs relative to the rest of the UK is an important part of how we make the case for Bristol, Bath and the West of England as a destination. We work with VisitEngland/VisitBritain and Oxford Economics to align our figures with national benchmarking standards, and are currently exploring comparisons between the Cambridge Model, which underpins our Annual Volume and Value Report, and the STEAM model used by other destinations, to enable more meaningful like-for-like comparison. Find out more about this here.
Key Audiences
Learn more about the domestic and international audiences we are focusing on with our campaigns, content, and destination development across Bristol, Bath and the wider West of England region. Understanding who is coming to Bristol, Bath and the wider West of England, what motivates them, and where they originate from helps us and our members develop the right products, itineraries and experiences to meet their needs.
Why this matters for your business
For tourism businesses across the region, access to reliable visitor data is a genuine competitive advantage. Knowing which audiences are growing, where they are travelling from, how long they are staying and what they are spending helps you make better decisions. This could range from planning your marketing calendar to developing new products or making a case for funding or investment. Visit West exists to make this intelligence accessible to members, so that the insights shaping our regional strategy can also inform yours.
Further Insights
We occasionally commission additional research that can either be quantitative or qualitative, including visitor surveys, or we will work with VisitEngland through their LVEP Data and Insights Working Group, of which we are a member, to explore further topics.
Visitor Survey
Our current visitor surveys are being run via the Visit Bristol and Visit Bath channels and are conducted in partnership with VisitBritain, who carry out the same research nationally. They help us build a clearer picture of visitor profiles, motivations, satisfaction and experience across the region. Results are published quarterly and shared with all members and stakeholders who support the survey. The more businesses that participate, the richer and more representative the data becomes.
