THE number of trips made by Brits to foreign countries fell at the fastest rate since the 1970s in 2009, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It recorded 58.6 million trips, compared to 69 million in 2008, and says the fall was mirrored by foreign visitors coming to Britain too, although not by as much (a drop from 31.1 million to 29.9 million).

ONS says the plummeting figures follow years of steady growth both into and out of the UK. Visits abroad have grown by four per cent on average per year in the past 25 years, and visits to the UK have grown at 3.2 per cent on average.

But business travel really suffered in 2009. A whopping 23 per cent less visits were made by UK residents abroad for business purposes in 2009 compared to the previous year while 19 per cent less visits were made into the UK from abroad.

Meanwhile, there was a drop of 15 per cent in visits made from the UK abroad for holiday reasons and a drop of 6.5 per cent for visiting friends and relatives.

However, holiday-specific trips to the UK by overseas visitors rose in 2009, by 0.5 million from 10.9m in 2008 to 11.4m in 2009.

Little surprise, then, that Brits spent less abroad in 2009. The British spent £5.1 billion less in 2009 despite the fact that a Brit’s average length of stay abroad has extended from 9.9 nights in 2007 to 10.5 nights in 2009.

Earnings from money spent by visitors from abroad coming to the UK rose, however, from £16.3 billion to £16.6 billion.

The ONS says London remains the most popular city to visit by foreigners, followed by Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingam, Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge.

The other way, not many countries saw a rise in visits from Brits.

Mexico suffered a 41 per cent fall in visits but Egypt, Jamaica and Lithuania saw rises. That said, the combined visits to France and Spain, although they did not grow, still amount to 21.3 million of the total 58.6 million visits abroad that Brits made.