American tourists boost London visitor numbers
Thursday, 14 Apr 2005 10:47
Tower Bridge: one of London's many attractions
An upsurge in American visitors contributed to a 14 per cent rise in foreign tourists coming to London, according to new figures.
The capital's tourist authority said total visitors went up to 13.4 million in 2004 - the best figure since 1997.
US citizens made up about 2.8 million visitors, compared with 2.6 million the previous year.
The number of foreign visitors nosedived in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks in 2001 in New York.
Visit London said Americans appeared still wary of travelling abroad as the number of US tourists to London was 100,000 down on 2000
A total of 6.5 million visitors came from within the European Union - up 800,000 on 2003, with a third of a million alone coming from Russia.
Visit London said it expected 2005 would probably see numbers surge to 13.9 million people.
It is estimated that foreign tourists will spend £6.45 billion this year in the capital boosting overall tax revenues for the UK by 13 per cent.
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said the increase in the number of tourists represented £770 million, or ten per cent of the city's economic growth.