Holiday Rentals News - Record number visit London from overseas

Record number visit London from overseas

The number of people visiting London from overseas hit record levels in 2007, new figures show.

Data released by Visit London reveals that 16.1 million foreign tourists visited the capital last year, injecting £8.7 billion to the city's economy.

However, British holidaymakers appear to prefer travelling abroad, with people making use of low-cost airlines to explore European destinations.

According to James Bidwell, chief executive of Visit London, the number of domestic visitors to the capital fell last year, a trend that is reflected nationwide.

"Since their peak in 2000, domestic overnight visits have fallen 30 per cent across Britain. This is primarily due to the growth of cheap, short haul carriers and expanding regional airports across Europe," he said.

Despite this, the capital should still draw large numbers of visitors from other parts of the UK as it will continue to host major evetns such as the recent Chinese Terracotta Warriors exhibition at the British Museum, he added.

Earlier this week, Kayte Williams, holidays manager at Travelsupermarket.com, stated that Britons are increasingly turning to the internet to book their holidays as they can often find better deals.

This article was brought to you by holidaylettings.co.uk, the UK's No.1 holiday home website.
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