Tourism plays a significant part in the economic life of England.

England's long history and pervasive culture spread worldwide through the English language and colonialism make England a popular tourist destination, particularly in London (see Tourism in London).

Scotland is a well-developed tourist destination, with tourism generally being responsible for sustaining 200,000 jobs mainly in the service sector, with tourist spending averaging at £4bn per year. Tourists from the United Kingdom make up the bulk of visitors to Scotland. In 2002 , for example, UK visitors made 18.5 million visits to Scotland, staying 64.5 million nights and spending £3.7bn. In contrast, overseas residents made 1.58 million visits to Scotland, staying 15 million nights and spending £806m. In terms of overseas visitors, those from the United States made up 24% of visits to Scotland, with the United States being the largest source of overseas visitors, and Germany (9%), France (8%), Canada (7%) and Australia (6%), following behind.

Scotland is generally seen as clean, unspoilt destination with beautiful scenery which has a long and complex history, combined with thousands of historic sites and attractions. These include prehistoric stone circles, standing stones and burial chambers, and various Bronze Age, Iron Age and Stone Age remains. There are also many historic castles, houses, and battlegrounds, ruins and museums. Many people are drawn by the culture of Scotland.

The cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow are increasingly being seen as a cosmopolitan alternative to Scotland's countryside, with visitors year round, but the main tourist season is generally from April to October inclusive. In addition to these factors, the national tourist agency, VisitScotland, have deployed a strategy of niche marketing, aimed at exploiting, amongst other things, Scotland's strengths in golf, fishing and food and drink tourism. Another significant, and increasingly popular reason for tourism to Scotland - especially by those from North America - is genealogy, with many visitors coming to Scotland to explore their family and ancestral roots.

Wales is an emerging tourist destination, with 8,078,900 visitors to National Trust and Welsh Tourist Board destinations in 2002.

In 2005 tourism in Wales contributed to the Economy of Wales supporting over 100,000 service-sector jobs, more than 8% of total employees in Wales. The most popular activities undertaken by tourists in Wales were walking, shopping, hiking in the mountains and visiting historic attractions, museums and galleries. Over 1.1 million trips were made to Wales by overseas tourists in 2006. The main countries of origin of overseas visitors were the Republic of Ireland, USA, and Germany.

The capital, Cardiff is the most popular area in Wales for tourists, with 11.7 million visitors in 2006., and provides 8,400 full time jobs in the sector. In 2004, tourists spent the most money in Gwynedd, followed by Conwy and Cardiff.

Wales' history and culture have been exploited to attract tourists. The scars of the industrial revolution and its industrial heritage can still be seen on parts of the Welsh landscape today. The Museum of Welsh Life, which focuses largely on the industrial past of Wales, is currently the most popular tourist attraction in Wales, attracting over 600,000 visitors annually. Other historical destinations, such as the many castles across Wales, such as Caernarfon castle or Caerphilly castle — most of them built to either enable or to consolidate English conquest of Wales, during the reign of the English king Edward I — also attract large numbers of tourists.

The varied landscape of Wales also helps tourism. There are three national parks in Wales, the Brecon Beacons National Park, Snowdonia National Park and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Popular activities at the national parks include hill walking, hiking, canoeing, hang gliding, kayaking and climbing. Wales is also becoming increasingly popular for 'extreme' sports, such as surfing, mountain biking and downhill cycling (in which Wales hosts the 'Dragon Downhill Series'). The terrain of Wales has also attracted the World Rally Championship (WRC). The Wales Rally GB is held annually. The 2005 Wales Rally GB saw the first WRC stage to be set indoors, at the Millennium Stadium.

In Cardiff, the regenerated Cardiff Bay area, commonly shown on the cult TV series Doctor Who and the location for the spin off programme Torchwood, is one of the most popular destinations.

Another increasingly popular reason for going to Wales, as with the rest of the UK — especially by those from North America — is genealogy, with many visitors coming to Wales to explore their family and ancestral roots. 1.8 million United States citizens are estimated to have Welsh ancestral roots, including former presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson.