Boris: latest stats prove London is ‘best place on earth’
London welcomed a record 5.1 million international visitors between April and June this year, a 6% year-on-year increase, according to the Office for National Statistics International Passenger Survey (IPS).
Tourist spending over the same period was £3.2 billion, an 8% increase compared with the second quarter of 2014. Over the past five years (2009-2014), the number of overseas visitors coming to London has risen by 22.5%.
The national picture is also positive with 9.9 million international visitors coming to the UK between April and June 2015, 5% more than the same period last year.
Tourist spending across the UK over this period was £5.8 billion, a seven per cent increase compared with the second quarter of 2014.
The latest figures follow on from a record-breaking 2014 when 17.4 million overseas visitors travelled to London, spending £11.8 billion across the city’s restaurants, hotels and attractions.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson welcomed the figures. He said: "These numbers prove that our great capital is without a doubt the best place on earth to visit."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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