Tour Operators in the UK - Market Size, Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecasts (2025-2029)

Tour Operators in the UK industry analysis

Revenue in the Tour Operators industry in Europe is anticipated to grow at a compound annual rate of 13.5% to €69 billion over the five years through 2025. The decline in revenue for much of the period is predominantly due to the damage the COVID-19 outbreak inflicted on the travel sector over the two years through 2022. Customers were unable to travel abroad or domestically. Since restrictions were eased (at different intervals across different countries), holiday numbers have increased both domestically and internationally, which has seen an influx in bookings for European tour operators. Travel in Europe was 6.2% higher in 2024 than its pre-pandemic 2019 level, as recorded by the European Travel Commission, and many Europeans have sought advice and booked tours to travel to their dream destinations. Revenge travel was a trend tour operators became quickly accustomed to, with customers hungry for trips after being locked in for so long during the COVID-19 outbreak. Whilst high inflation in recent years has curbed demand with people’s pockets squeezed, savings during COVID-19 and people’s prioritisation of travel as their luxury purchase has kept bookings high. People are still booking lots of trips in 2025, but are looking for value for money. This is raising bookings in lesser frequented countries, which is encouraging tour operators to offer more packages in new countries to offer budget getaways for price sensitive customers. As a result, tour operator’s revenue is set to grow 0.3% in 2025. The weather continues to dictate seasonal demand, despite an uptick in off-season holidays, and destinations that tour operators target for trips, whilst geopolitical tensions have customers wanting the protection of booking through a travel operator.

Trends and Insights

• Tour operators that keep updating their travel technology will nudge ahead of competitors. Investing and building easy-to-use online booking systems will ensure customers continue to enjoy booking their trips with certain operators.
• By specialising, tour operators can carve out a niche. Targeting a specific age group or specialising in a certain activity tour operators can target younger age groups looking for affordable tours that are filled with fun activities.
• Expanding through acquiring smaller travel agencies is boosting concentration. Larger tour operators do buy up smaller, niche operators that specialise in countries or regions to increase their presence throughout Europe and expand their customer base.