From April to June 2024, the overall student week volume for our QUIC cohort recovered to 81% of Q2 2019 levels. This is consistent with the rebound recorded in the first quarter of this year. 

Variations persist at the granular level but robust growth for some source markets 

The full results reveal that over a quarter of all individual source countries sent higher volumes to the UK than in Q2 2019, showing continued short-term growth potential across  a number of the UK's source markets.  

The UK's varied portfolio of source markets continues but, as  in recent quarters, our more traditional quarter two source countries topped the rankings. Saudi Arabia had the most significant year-on-year growth, followed by Turkey, Colombia, China, and Mexico. In contrast, Brazil and Italy had the largest absolute decline in student weeks. 

Echoing global trends, overall growth occurred in the junior segment. This is an area where the UK has expertise and a solid reputation and has the potential to make further gains as this junior wave develops. Last autumn's concession for ID travel for French school groups seems to have helped bring back student mobility from France to the UK, which in 2022 and 2023 had shifted to other competitor destinations.

China's slow but stable rebound continues

It was only in August 2023 that the group travel restrictions eased in China, and this key market is now showing a stable but slow-paced recovery (having previously regained 50% of its pre-pandemic volume). This mirrors the path taken by other Asian Pacific markets. However, since the second quarter is typically not the strongest for Chinese junior travellers, we will have a clearer view of its rebound trajectory after this summer's results.

Q2 2024 at a glance 

In Q2 2024: 

• teaching occurred at 140 premises* (1% more than in Q1 2023) 
• members collectively taught 139K student weeks (83% adult and 17% junior) 
• junior student weeks were up 2% compared to Q2 2023 
• adult student weeks were slightly down at -1% compared to Q2 2023  
• adults recovered around 81% of their 2019 (pre-pandemic) student week volume, and juniors 78% 
• reverting to the industry standard, around 80% were booked through agents  
• 78% of bookings were from individuals, and 22% were groups - a stable proportion for several years 
• the top 10 source markets sent 67% of all student weeks 
• the top 5 adult source markets were Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil, South Korea and Switzerland  
• the top 5 junior source markets were Italy, Spain, Mexico, Thailand, and France.  

>> Download the Q2 2024 executive summary The full version of the report and other outputs are only available to QUIC participants. 

>> Find out more about QUIC