I have heard both these used when someone is visiting - can someone explain if there is a difference or can both be used interchangeably?
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2Zum Besuch is short for zu dem* Besuch, which indicates dative case. It cannot be used interchangeably to zu Besuch*, which indicates accusative case. When to use which depends on grammar in the sentence where it is used. – Janka Jan 08 '18 at 08:25
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3Zu Besuch isn't accusative, it's dative, but without the article. Dative is the only case one can use with "zu". Also consider "zu Tische sitzen", where the (old-fashioned) dative-e indicates dative. – RHa Jan 08 '18 at 13:37
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@Janka zu Besuch is no accusative as RHa rightly pointed out. zu can only take the dative. – tofro Jan 08 '18 at 15:47
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Generally speaking, zu Besuch is an idiomatic expression mening "visiting". Based on a brief corpus research, its use seems to be essentially confined to the phrases zu Besuch sein, zu Besuch kommen, and (jmdn.) zu Besuch haben.
(1) Wohnst du hier? -- Nein, ich bin (hier) zu Besuch.
(2) Mein Bruder kam zu Besuch.
(3) Ich konnte nicht auf die Feier kommen, weil ich meine Eltern zu Besuch hatte.
[This is not surprising. Such a drop of the article is a frequent feature of Funktionsverbgefüge (FVGs). Only a very small subset of semantically weak verbs - Funktionsverben - can be used in such (here: prepositional) FVGs. In essence, what happens is that these verbs are used in a way where they "lose" some of their ordinary meaning (desemanticization) and the resulting semantic void is then filled with a prepositional phrase. E.g.: in Umlauf bringen; in Betrieb nehmen. The three verbs above - sein/kommen/haben - just happen to be the only Funktionsverben (as far as I can tell) that make sense with zu Besuch. Note that FVGs are idiomatic; you can't just make up new ones.]
You cannot use zu Besuch in other contexts. Hence it's only:
(4) jmdn. zum Besuch einladen/bitten/laden; eine Gelegenheit zum Besuch ergreifen/wahrnehmen; sich zum Besuch ankündigen/ansagen/anmelden; zum Besuch Blumen (mit)bringen; etw. berechtigt zum Besuch; etw. steht zum Besuch offen
You also can no longer use zu Besuch with sein/kommen/haben once you "break up" the FVG, such as by adding arbitrary attributes to the noun. Hence: Er kam zum Besuch der Mutter. Er kam zum alljährlichen Besuch. (Please refer to your favorite comprehensive grammar of German for details.)
[So are they at least sometimes interchangeable? Well, at least in theory I don't think anything prevents you from using zum Besuch (outside an FVG) with sein/kommen/haben in such a way that the zu Besuch FVG would still be intact. As far as I can see, this clearly spells trouble only with sein (which is by far the weakest verb of the three, semantically speaking), at least unless specified. However, compare: ?Mein Bruder kam zum Besuch. There is quite some semantic value in kommen. Compare: Mein Bruder kam zum Abendessen/zur Taufe/zur Party.]
My practical advice would be to use zu Besuch with sein/kommen/haben unless it's not possible (especially because you have added an attribute to Besuch). It sounds rounder, even if occassionally zum Besuch might be an option. Use zum Besuch otherwise.
