The official Great Britain Day Visitor Survey did not ask a standalone question about self-guided city tours. Its 2017 results nevertheless provide useful measured proxies: sightseeing on foot, centre-based walking, short and long walks, and visits to architecture and heritage sites. The figures below describe visits rather than unique people, and the destination and country volumes refer to leisure day visits lasting at least three hours by GB residents. Million figures are rounded.
Contents
- Walking participation across Great Britain
- City and large-town volumes
- How destination types compare
- Country-level sightseeing volumes
- Heritage and cultural stops
- The market share of cities and large towns
Walking participation across Great Britain
Walking was a substantial part of Tourism Day Visits taken by GB residents in 2017. Sightseeing on foot occurred on 15% of all Tourism Day Visits. A short walk or stroll of up to two miles or one hour occurred on 13%, while a long walk, hike or ramble of at least two miles or one hour occurred on 14%. Centre-based walking around a city or town centre occurred on 10%.
These measures overlap: one visit can include more than one activity. They should therefore be read as participation indicators, not as shares that can be added together. For independent travellers, the distinction is useful. Sightseeing on foot most closely represents moving between attractions, while centre-based walking identifies activity in an urban core. Short and long walks describe the walking format rather than whether a visitor followed a paid or free tour.
On leisure day visits lasting at least three hours, the reported shares were lower for each of the four walking-related measures. Short walks or strolls occurred on 7% of visits, long walks, hikes or rambles on 6%, sightseeing on foot on 5%, and centre-based walking on 5%. The survey’s 2017 measurement therefore shows that walking-related activities were present across day visits, but that the percentage depends on the visit definition used.
The relevant source is the Great Britain Day Visitor 2017 Annual Report from VisitBritain. These are historical survey results from 2017, not current participation estimates and not forecasts.
City and large-town volumes
The city or large-town category shows the scale of urban opportunities that could support self-guided routes. Among 3-hour-plus visits in 2017, city or large-town destinations accounted for 64 million visits that included a short walk or stroll. The corresponding volume for a long walk, hike or ramble was 41 million. Sightseeing on foot appeared on 55 million visits, while centre-based walking appeared on 76 million.
The centre-based figure is the largest of these four urban walking proxies. It indicates that walking around a city or town centre was recorded more often than the broader sightseeing-on-foot measure in this destination category. The two measures are not interchangeable: sightseeing describes the purpose or activity, whereas centre-based walking describes the setting and activity pattern.
Urban visits also included several stop types that fit naturally into an independent walking itinerary. City or large-town destinations accounted for 22 million 3-hour-plus visits involving viewing traditional or modern architecture. They accounted for 20 million visits involving a castle or other historic site, 17 million involving a cathedral, church, abbey or other religious building, and 11 million involving a location associated with a TV series, film or literature.
The following compact comparison keeps the four walking proxies separate and uses the same 2017 measurement period.
| Activity included in a 3-hour-plus visit | City or large-town visits |
|---|---|
| Short walk or stroll | 64 million |
| Long walk, hike or ramble | 41 million |
| Sightseeing on foot | 55 million |
| Centre-based walking | 76 million |
Source: The Great Britain Day Visitor 2017 Annual Report. The volumes are rounded and represent visits, not unique participants.
How destination types compare
City and large-town destinations were not the leading setting for every walking proxy. Across the four destination types reported for 3-hour-plus visits, short walks or strolls appeared on 64 million city or large-town visits, 46 million small-town visits, 55 million village or countryside visits, and 30 million seaside or coast visits.
Longer walking showed a different pattern. Long walks, hikes or rambles appeared on 41 million city or large-town visits, 25 million small-town visits, 71 million village or countryside visits, and 24 million seaside or coast visits. Village or countryside destinations therefore had the highest long-walk volume, at 71 million compared with 41 million in cities or large towns.
For sightseeing on foot, the reported volumes were 55 million in cities or large towns, 29 million in small towns, 41 million in villages or countryside, and 28 million at seaside or coast destinations. City or large-town visits had the highest sightseeing-on-foot volume, 26 million above small-town visits. Village or countryside sightseeing on foot was 12 million higher than the small-town figure, while seaside or coast visits recorded 28 million.
Centre-based walking was most concentrated in urban destinations. The volume was 76 million in cities or large towns, 32 million in small towns, 14 million in villages or countryside, and 15 million at seaside or coast destinations. City or large-town visits therefore had the highest centre-based walking volume, more than twice the small-town volume. The village or countryside figure was 14 million, compared with 15 million for seaside or coast visits.
| Destination type | Short walk | Long walk | Sightseeing on foot | Centre-based walking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City or large town | 64m | 41m | 55m | 76m |
| Small town | 46m | 25m | 29m | 32m |
| Village or countryside | 55m | 71m | 41m | 14m |
| Seaside or coast | 30m | 24m | 28m | 15m |
Source: The Great Britain Day Visitor 2017 Annual Report. Each cell is a rounded number of 3-hour-plus visits including the named activity.
The destination pattern suggests that self-guided exploration has more than one form. Urban routes align most closely with centre-based walking and sightseeing on foot. Countryside destinations lead on long walks, while seaside and small-town destinations still contribute measurable volumes across the walking categories. These observations describe the survey’s destination categories; they do not identify the route format or prove that a visit was self-guided.
Country-level sightseeing volumes
Within Great Britain, England destinations accounted for 123 million 3-hour-plus visits involving sightseeing on foot in 2017. Scotland destinations accounted for 17 million, and Wales destinations accounted for 13 million. The same country breakdown for centre-based walking was 117 million visits in England, 13 million in Scotland, and 7 million in Wales.
Short walks or strolls produced larger country-level volumes. England destinations accounted for 168 million 3-hour-plus visits involving a short walk or stroll. Scotland accounted for 19 million and Wales for 11 million. These figures are destination-based: they describe where the visit took place, not the residence of every individual visitor.
| Country destination | Sightseeing on foot | Centre-based walking | Short walk or stroll |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 123 million | 117 million | 168 million |
| Scotland | 17 million | 13 million | 19 million |
| Wales | 13 million | 7 million | 11 million |
Source: The Great Britain Day Visitor 2017 Annual Report. All values refer to 3-hour-plus visits in 2017 and are rounded.
Heritage and cultural stops
Walking routes often connect physical movement with places of interest. The survey recorded heritage and cultural stop proxies across the destination types, although these figures do not say whether the visitor used a map, an audio guide, or another self-guided format.
Small-town destinations accounted for 9 million 3-hour-plus visits involving a castle or other historic site, while village or countryside destinations accounted for 15 million and seaside or coast destinations for 6 million. For religious buildings, the corresponding volumes were 10 million in small towns, 11 million in villages or countryside, and 3 million at seaside or coast destinations.
Story-linked locations were also measured. Small-town destinations accounted for 6 million visits involving a location associated with a TV series, film or literature. Village or countryside destinations also accounted for 6 million, while seaside or coast destinations accounted for 2 million.
Architecture was recorded separately. Village or countryside destinations accounted for 11 million visits involving viewing traditional or modern architecture, and seaside or coast destinations accounted for 4 million. The city or large-town category accounted for 22 million such visits, making it the largest supplied urban architecture figure and a significant proxy for architecture-focused city exploration.
The source also reports 20 million city or large-town visits involving a castle or other historic site, 17 million involving a cathedral, church, abbey or other religious building, and 11 million involving a TV, film or literature location. Together, these measures show the range of stops that can be encountered on an independent urban itinerary, while keeping each activity distinct.
The market share of cities and large towns
City and large-town destinations represented 38% of all Activities Core to Tourism visits in Great Britain in 2017. Small-town destinations represented 18%, village or countryside destinations 29%, and seaside or coast destinations 12%. The categories do not sum to 100%, reflecting the rounded values and reporting structure in the source.
For 3-hour-plus leisure day visits, city or large-town destinations represented 44%. Small-town destinations represented 26%. These shares provide context for the large urban activity volumes: cities and large towns formed the largest supplied destination category for the longer leisure-day-visit measure.
The 44% figure is a destination share, not a self-guided-tour participation rate. Similarly, the 38% Activities Core to Tourism figure describes destination representation within that survey measure. The more specific indicators remain the 15% share for sightseeing on foot across all Tourism Day Visits, the 10% share for centre-based walking, and the activity-specific 3-hour-plus volumes reported above.
For readers assessing independent travel patterns, the clearest evidence is therefore layered. Great Britain’s 2017 survey measured walking and sightseeing as common visit activities; cities and large towns generated 55 million sightseeing-on-foot and 76 million centre-based walking visits among 3-hour-plus visits; and urban destinations also recorded substantial architecture, heritage, religious-building, and story-linked-location volumes. None of these measures should be treated as a count of unique self-guided tour users.