A quarter of a million more tourists in 2009

London was visited by 550,000 more tourists in 2009 than the year before, bringing the total number of tourists in '09 up to over 26 million. But 2009 also saw a drop of 3 percent in the number of overseas tourists while the number of British people visiting the capital rose by 11 percent to 11.3 million.

The release of these figures follows a campaign, fronted by Visit London, called 'Only in London', to encourage tourists to discover more areas of London, some of which are barely known to Londoners let alone visitors such as the Tooting Bec Lido. The state the pound has been left in after the recession has meant that London has also become a popular destination with Europeans who want to make the most of the low exchange rate and bag a bargain from the designer stores.

Over £2 million has been poured into the 'Only in London' campaign in a hope of further encouraging tourism and generating an extra £60 million, on top of the £8 billion that was generated from tourism in 2008. Last year Britons alone spent £2.4 billion in London, 7 percent more than foreign tourists. Spending for 2009 hit an all time high in London, with tourists spending, in total, £10.5 billion.

Source:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23682672-26-million-visit-london-in-year-as-domestic-tourism-soars.do