London campaign to boost tourism yields results

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Nov 18, 2022

The UK’s capital may be reeling from a tourist downturn post-pandemic and after the abolition of tax-free shopping for international visitors, but a new campaign has helped boost tourist numbers.

An expanded tourism campaign to encourage visitors back to London has been a “huge success” helping bring in £289 million in additional spending to the capital, new figures show.

Led by the mayor of London Sadiq Khan, ‘Let’s Do London’ is claimed to have been the biggest domestic tourism campaign the capital has ever seen. Launched earlier this year, it targeted international audiences.

The mayor’s office said the campaign delivered a return on investment of £28 for every £1 spent on it. It’s also estimated that the campaign will bring an additional 600,000 visitors to London from other parts of the UK, Germany, France and the US.

That's hugely important, given that key shopping cities in Europe have been much more successful at attracting tourists since the evolution of the tax-free shopping perk early last year.

The campaign was extended earlier this year when the mayor visited New York. This has included spending £7 million to encourage international tourists back to London, £2 million to attract overnight UK visitors and £1 million for reaching out to Londoners.

Prior to the pandemic, London was the third most visited city on the planet with the “thriving” tourism sector accounting for as many as one in seven jobs and contributing almost 12% of the capital’s gross domestic product. Visitors to London also went on to spend more than £640 million in local economies outside of the capital.