What’s the most popular UK attraction for overseas tourists?
Trafalgar Square is the top tourist attraction for international travellers visiting the UK, according to a survey by First Rate Exchange Services.
Its poll of visitors from the US, Ireland, Spain, France and Germany found Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace were the next popular.
These sites, combined with London’s magnitude of museums, made London the main port of call for 72% of these international visitors.
A a visit to Buckingham Palace is a must for Americans, with 51% saying visiting the Queen’s London home was top of their tourist trip table.
For the Irish, Oxford Street is the most popular destination, and a visit to the Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham also features their top 10.
The French are the most likely to venture out of the capital with Edinburgh Castle, Oxford University and the White Cliffs of Dover featuring highly on their holiday hot spots.
The top 10 attractions for inbound tourists were:
1. Trafalgar Square
2. Tower Bridge
3. London Museums
4. Buckingham Palace
5. Oxford Street
6. London Eye
7. Windsor Castle
8. Edinburgh Castle
9. Stonehenge
10. Globe Theatre, London
The list is based on research undertaken by Toluna, with a base size of 2,500 inbound tourists during April 2009.
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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