Reading’s visitor sector generates over £405 million for the local economy

13th March 2026

REDA (Reading’s Economy & Destination Agency) has today published a new report, The Economic Value & Volume of the Visitor Economy in Reading. The report, produced by TSE Research on behalf of REDA finds that the tourism economy is worth over £405 million to Reading with just over half coming from day visits.

This is the second such report that REDA have commissioned. The total value of tourism to Reading is estimated to have risen by 3.2% since the last report in 2023 despite a Berkshire-wide drop in both domestic day and overnight trips since then.

A key finding of the report details the way that Reading’s tourism economy has flexed away from a reliance on business tourism and domestic tourism post pandemic. Total overseas overnight trips for leisure purposes have grown from 7% to 29% of all overseas visits to Reading since 2023, generating over £26 million, while overseas business trips to Reading have shrunk from 52% to 34% of all overseas visits, although these visits still generate almost £31 million. Reading has grown its overall overseas trips from 98,000 to 139 556 per annum, an increase of 41%.

With working and business travel habits much changed post pandemic, REDA has been putting significant emphasis into attracting leisure visitors from the UK and overseas to Reading through campaigns such as last year’s Jane Austen 250 and this year’s Britain’s Bayeux Tapestry, and this seems to have borne fruit.

In the UK market, domestic overnight stays for leisure have increased from 49% to 83% of the domestic staying market, creating over £61m of spend. Conversely, domestic stays for business have fallen from 37% to 11%.

Alex Brannen, Tourism Lead for REDA, said: “The Reading tourism economy does not get the recognition it deserves locally compared to the profile of other sectors such as IT, finance and pharma. However, this report shows how important visitors are to the local economy, generating over £405 million in spend and supporting over 10% of all jobs locally.”

“REDA has been actively promoting leisure visits to Reading in the last few years through travel shows, press trips, through the Great West Way tourist route and of course, making best use of our wonderful but sometimes unsung assets, such as the Abbey Ruins, Britain’s Bayeux Tapestry, the Thames, the St James’ Way, the Thames Lido, and not forgetting our excellent hotels, shopping and incomparable connections to the rest of the UK. The success of this work can be seen in the increase in leisure visits to Reading in recent years.”

Thanks to the growth of the overseas staying market, total overnight spend in the Reading economy has increased by 27% to £154 million, bringing major benefit to local hotels and serviced accommodation.

Overall, it has been the 4.6-million day visitors that remain the dominant driver of Reading’s visitor economy with a spend of over £213 million, representing 56% of all visitor spend. Day visitors spend on retail accounted for 35% of all direct spending, followed by catering/food 30% and accommodation 30%.

The report also found that Reading’s visitor economy employs almost 10,000 people or the equivalent of 6720 full time jobs. Overall, the visitor economy accounts for just over 10% of all jobs in Reading.