London has taken a major lead in tourist visitation, the trend to continue in 2014

Published on : Saturday, January 18, 2014

London’s popularity as a tourist destination is growing. It has surpassed Paris and New York, ‘The Big Apple’.
There is a 20% increase in visitors last year and the reasons are quite obvious. For the first time in history, the city is on course to welcome over 16 million overseas visitors in one year, London & Partners stated, one of Britain’s top tourism agencies.
Close to 5 million tourists have visited U.K.’s capital in the interval July – September 2013. Comparing this to the 2012 period when the Olympic Games have been hosted, the percentage rose by 19.5%.
The current figures are courtesy of the Office of National Statistics who has made a series of projections based on passenger surveys. Signs of an increased incoming rate have been registered early on as the total number of tourists has increased by 12 % in the first two trimesters of 2013.
“We are the first city in history where the number of tourists has gone up after the Olympic Games not down and I think that is down to a realization of the capital, that took place during the Games, people saw beyond beef eaters and the royal family and heritage, they saw a fantastic vibrant, exciting, sexy, young welcoming city,” said Malthouse, London’s Deputy Mayor for Business and Enterprise.
London’s tourist attractions in 2013?
The birth of the heir to the crown for starters is a rare opportunity for people to get a glimpse at the entire paraphernalia surrounding the event. Corroborate that with great weather (another rare Britain occurrence), the Wimbledon and a series of unique cultural manifestations and you will get a clearer picture on the phenomenon.
The tourist expenditure rate?
As the total number of visitors is increasing by 12 % each year, the money they spend is aligned to this trend; with an astonishing 120 million pounds more, on tourism related services, than the past year.