Daily Research News Online no. 2859 - London is Europe's No.1 Tourist City

London is Europe's No.1 Tourist City

January 16 2004

London, currently launching its bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, is Europe's no.1 city break destination according to new research published by MINTEL. With 11.6m foreign visitors in 2002, London is well ahead of Paris with just under 9m.

The French capital is in turn a long way clear of Amsterdam, Rome and Dublin, which complete the top five, but London may be consolidating its lead, according to MINTEL. Figures for the first half of 2003 show a rise to 5.3m foreign tourists, from 5.2m a year earlier. In 2002 London also had 16.1m visitors from elsewhere in the UK.

The British capital's success reflects some hard work promoting itself in the UK and abroad in recent years, plus a mixture of new and old attractions, many of the latter now free. Yasmin Razak, editor of MINTEL's Travel & Tourism Intelligence, says that 'the city has also benefited enormously from recent developments in the low-cost airline routes, which have connected the capital with a number of new places in Europe', adding that early estimates show an increase in international tourists to London in the last part of 2003.

The British Museum and the Tate Modern both received an impressive 4.6m visitors in 2002, making them the most popular London attractions. Not far behind are the National Gallery and the British Airways London Eye with 4.1m visitors each. Both the Tate Modern and the London Eye were built / completed around the millennium in the South Bank area, effectively transforming it. Other museums such as the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum saw their visitor numbers double between 2001 and 2002 due largely to the abolition of admission fees.

The USA provides more of London's foreign tourists than any other country, with almost 2.5m Americans visiting in 2002. The French are second with c.1m visiting London in 2002.

Paris received almost 9m foreign visitors in 2002. Adding these in with French tourists, figures put three of its historic attractions in second, third and fourth place - respectively the cathedral of Notre-Dame with 12m, Sacre Coeur with 8m and the Eiffel Tower with around 6m - but the no.1 slot goes to Disneyland Paris with a massive 13.1m visitors in 2002.

Amsterdam, with a population one tenth the size of London or Paris, attracted an extraordinary 5 million visitors in 2002 - residents were outnumbered by visitors by 7 to 1. Almost one third of its visitors (1.6m) came from Britain. 'Amsterdam is a city of contrasts' says Yasmin Razak. 'The city's great nightlife and laissez-faire attitude have attracted a great number of hedonistic travellers. On the other hand the 17th century canals and architecture as well as its wealth of artistic treasures attract the more cultural traveller as well'. The canal cruises were far and away the most popular attraction in Amsterdam in 2002, with some 3m people having been on one. Van Gogh's Museum was second with 1.3m.

MINTEL also identifies 'up and coming' city destinations - three of its top 5 for 2002 are in the former Eastern bloc, many of whose countries are entering the EU in May. The five are Tallinn, Estonia's capital, with 2.7m foreign visitors in 2002, Stockholm (2.2m), Budapest (1.6m), Lisbon (1.3m) and Dubrovnik (597 000).

According to Razak, 'Tallinn is currently promoting itself as a city-break destination, highlighting its Old Town, one of the best-preserved in Northern Europe, and its cultural aspects. With its churches, monasteries and medieval architecture, the city has been likened to a mini-Prague and can expect strong growth over the next five years'.

Dubrovnik suffered heavy shelling during an eight-month siege in the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early '90s, and its attempts to restore tourists' confidence were stalled by the conflict in Kosovo, but Razak says that enough time appears to have passed: 'as the incoming market returns there are strong hopes that the city's tourism industry can be restored to former greatness'. Despite having the fewest visitors of the five emerging destinations, it has seen the greatest percentage increase between 1999 and 2002, from 282 000 visitors to almost 600 000.

MINTEL's Web site is at www.mintel.com