Investment in London tourism 'exactly sort of support needed'

16-Feb-2022 - Last updated on 16-Feb-2022 at 15:38 GMT

Said Khan announces a further £10m investment into attracting tourists to London: UKH welcomes support as "exactly" what sector needs (Credit: Getty/ Gary Yeowell)

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, has today (Wednesday 16 February) announced a further £10m investment into attracting visitors to London following the success of the Let’s do London campaign.

The announcement comes after Let’s do London, which was launched on 10 May 2021, has already generated £70m in revenue, according to the campaign’s website.

UKHospitality (UKH) CEO Kate Nicholls said: “This is exactly the sort of support the hospitality and tourism sector needs in order to recover from the pandemic and attract people back into the capital.

Crucial to driving economic recovery

“London has so much to offer domestic and international tourists, as brilliantly showcased by the Let’s Do London campaign, and is crucial to driving economic recovery, not just in London but beyond.

“Visitors to London go on to spend over £640 million in local economies outside of the capital and, prior to the pandemic, 15% of overseas visitors to London came as part of wider trip to the UK, so this benefits the whole of the country.”

This comes after international and domestic visitors to London spent nearly £11bn less year-on-year in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Let’s do London.

Having invested £6m so far into the tourist campaign, Khan has now pledged to invest a further £3m to attract more domestic tourists back to the capital with a plan to promote cultural and sporting activities taking place in London this year.

Attractive destination

Furthermore, the Mayor also pledged to invest £7m into a marketing campaign attracting international visitors to London, led by business growth and destination agency, London & Partners, alongside the domestic marketing campaign.

Nicholls added: “Businesses in our sector remain in a fragile state, carrying crippling debt and facing a barrage of rising costs across the board. Initiatives that help drive footfall such as this will be vital to our recovery.

“However, remaining an attractive destination for both international and domestic visitors will become more difficult if the planned VAT rise in April goes ahead and so we are urging the Government to commit to keeping it at its current 12.5% level permanently.”