Public attitudes survey for international travel methodology note
Published 29 October 2026
© Crown copyright 2026
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-attitudes-survey-for-international-travel-pasit-research-findings/public-attitudes-survey-for-international-travel-methodology-note
The public attitudes survey for international travel (PASIT) tracks the frequency of reported, intended and actual travel, both internationally and domestically (within the UK), as well as monitoring public attitudes to a range of new and longstanding policy topics.
This note explains the methodology behind the PASIT and gives a table of the published surveys.
You can find the spreadsheets containing the survey data on the GOV.UK landing page for this note.
Background
The Department for Transport (DfT) commissioned Verian Group UK Ltd to conduct the public attitudes survey for international travel (PASIT).
The PASIT functions as a series of surveys tracking frequency of intended and actual travel both internationally and domestically (within the UK), as well as monitoring public attitudes towards a range of new and longstanding policy issues.
PASIT is designed to be a snapshot of people’s attitudes at the time of completing the survey, reflecting people’s views on public announcements or policy changes to travel.
Questions demonstrate people’s best estimate of their future intentions at the time they were surveyed.
Methodology
The surveys were commissioned by DfT and were conducted by Verian Group UK Ltd using the online omnibus survey panel provided by Kantar UK. Quotas were set by age and gender to ensure a nationally representative sample.
Data was also weighted to the known UK population profile on the following metrics:
- gender
- age
- social grade
- region
- age when left full-time education
- household size
Respondents receive a small incentive for survey completion (up to £5 per survey).
The ethical implications to this project were minimal as Verian Group UK Ltd did not collect or process any sensitive personal data for this survey, handling only aggregated, anonymous omnibus data with no direct or persistent link between respondents and their responses. As such, the data falls outside the scope of UK GDPR.
Participants were able to give fully informed consent and were able to withdraw at any time.
Table of published surveys
This table summarises the PASIT reports that are published on the GOV.UK landing page for this note.
| Survey title | Date undertaken | Sample size (UK adults over 16) |
|---|---|---|
| June 2026 | 18 to 26 June | 2,557 |
| January 2026 | 6 to 12 January | 2,559 |
Caveats
The following caveats apply to the PASIT data.
Survey findings represent a snapshot of attitudes at the time of completing the survey.
There may be uncertainties associated with international travel, so the data demonstrates people’s best estimate of their future intentions at the time they were surveyed. As the domestic and global context changes, there may be changes in people’s responses.
Percentages may not sum to 100% due to selecting multiple responses or due to rounding of percentages in single code responses.
Some questions were asked to all participants, and some were asked to a filtered sample.
You should check the sample size if citing PASIT figures. Sample sizes are clearly stated on each data table.