Visitor Numbers Up In Both London And Wales

A record number of tourists visited the UK capital last year, according to official figures. There was also good news from the Principality where overseas visitor numbers grew by about 3.5 per cent.

Data from the Office For National Statistics (ONS)  showed London had 16.8 million visitors in 2013, an increase of 1.3 million from 2012, which was the highest recorded number since records began in 1961.

Record visitor numbers for London

Mayor of London Boris Johnson was understandably jubilant saying that the capital's diversity was a key to the success. "These record-breaking figures are a tribute to the outstanding mix of culture, art, music and sport to be found here and more is planned," he said. He added that with international sporting events and exhibitions, "this wonderful city will not rest on its laurels".

According to the International Passenger Survey, London's previous best year was 2006 when the city welcomed 15.6 million people.

It seems that the majority of visitors were from North America last year, followed by tourists from France and Germany.  Overseas visitors spent an estimated £11.2bn in 2013, with tourists from the US spending the most. However, the average spend-per-customer was higher for visitors from United Arab Emirates and countries in Central and South America, Asia and the Middle East.

Over the last 10 years, the number of people taking holidays in the capital showed a substantial increase, rising from 4.9 million in 2003 to 8.5 million in 2013. The ONS said the amount of money spent by tourists in London had doubled since 2003.

Last year also saw the highest number of visits to the UK since 1961. Overseas residents made 5.6% more visits to the UK in 2013 compared with 2012, reaching a record high of more than 32 million visits.

The news from Wales was also encouraging, with overseas visits to Wales being up 3.5% last year with spending totalling £353m, new figures show. Cardiff was the 12th most visited city or town in the UK, but despite that good news Wales is still lagging behind England and Scotland, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) study shows.

On visits to Wales, ONS found:

• There were 884,000 visits from overseas visitors
• The total spent by overseas visitors amounted to just 3.1% of the £11.2bn spent in London and less than a quarter of that in Scotland
• Cardiff was the most popular place visited with most people coming from Europe and north America, and the total visitor spend in the capital was £111m
• Swansea was the next popular destination, followed by Pembrokeshire, Gwynedd and Newport
• Torfaen had just 3,000 foreign visits during 2013 and the amount people spent was so low it failed to register in the study

There were 71,000 business trips to Cardiff and 21,000 to Newport, but figures for Blaenau Gwent were below that which are counted.

London Tourism

 

Wales Tourism