NEW figures show that visitors to London spent a record £8.6 billion ($14 billion) last year, as the British capital welcomed its highest numbers of tourists and business travellers in four years. The latest statistics from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) reveal that the number of people visiting London in 2010 grew for the first time since 2006, with 14.6 million journeys made - up almost three per cent on the previous year. The capital bucked the trend for the rest of the UK, which suffered an overall decrease in visitors of four per cent, and visitors spent a record £8.6 billion - up more than five per cent. The figures show the major boost to the city was spurred by positive growth from emerging markets, including the BRIC nations – with Russia providing the biggest increase of 37 per cent followed by Brazil (36 per cent), India (31 per cent) and China (17 per cent) – showing a total spend of more than £500 million ($825 million) up a massive 40 per cent when compared to 2009. With the royal wedding, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, London is now in a good position to capitalise on last year’s strong performance and cement its reputation as the best big city in the world to visit and do business in. The IPS figures follow the news that a new promotional agency for the capital has been created. London & Partners brings together the work of the capital’s former key promotional agencies – Visit London, Think London and Study London, which were previously responsible for attracting tourism, inward investment and international students. The new agency will promote the capital with one voice and vision as it gears up for 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games with the aim of attracting more visitors, investors and businesses as well as international students. Working with both the private sector and specialist organisations, London & Partners will promote the capital both domestically and internationally. The increase in visitor numbers is particularly welcome despite the travel disruption caused last year by volcanic ash, strikes and severe weather conditions. The news for 2010 was positive for both the leisure and business tourism sectors with around 7.3 million leisure visitors (3.2 per cent increase) and 2.8 million business visitors (7.6 per cent increase). Taking in both London and the rest of the country, 2010 saw 211,000 visitors from the UAE to Britain who spent £310 million ($511 million) while visiting the nation’s historic sights, dining in its restaurants and visiting its public houses. According to Carol Maddison, manager for VisitBritain UAE, there were 438,000 visitors from the GCC last year with the highest number, 211,000, coming from the UAE followed by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman – a drop from 2009 which saw 489,000 arrivals and 2008 with 454,000. Maddison expects the number of UAE visitors to reach 300,000 in 2011 as confidence among overseas tourists continues to rise despite global financial uncertainties. 'The number of inbound travellers is expected to be 30 million, a rise of one per cent, in the coming year. The amount they spend in this country is set to increase by two per cent in nominal terms to £17.2 billion ($28.3 billion),' said Maddison. 'This figure is considerably lower in real terms than the best year for inbound visitor spend (once adjusting for inflation) which remains 2006 with spending of £18.4billion ($30.3 billion) at 2010 prices. 'This improving picture though shows that the global economic recovery is strong across much of Asia but it remains fragile in many parts of Europe and North America - two regions that account for 85 per cent of all international visits to Britain.'
