The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) champions good quality service for tourists, from both the UK and overseas. The Department encourages and helps the tourism industry to improve what it has to offer, with Government Offices supporting tourism initiatives to maintain the health of the tourism industry in each region.
More information on the national picture
Tourism in London
Tourism brings real economic and social benefits to London boosting opportunities for employment to Londoners, bringing income to London’s businesses and offering high value tourist attraction to the residents and workers of the capital. This economic contribution has social benefits in tackling social exclusion and as a major health determinant. Tourism represents
- 10 per cent of London’s Gross Value Added and
- up to 13 per cent of London’s workforce.
London gets more overseas visitors than Las Vegas, New York and Sydney combined, and beats other popular cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau and Dubai. The capital also attracts more overseas visitors than other European cities and since 2002 has increased its share of International visitors from 1.65% to 1.76%.
In 2003, London attracted
- 11.7 million overseas visitors who stayed for
- 78.9 million nights and spent nearly
- £5.9 billion (almost twice the value of domestic tourism).
