London leaves Paris and New York behind – tourism arrival up by 20%

London emerges as the most popular city of the world as far as tourism is concerned leaving behind Paris and New York. The latest tourism figures suggest that the number of travelers visiting London last year soared by a huge 20 percent.

According to the official figures released on Thursday (January 16) showed almost 4.9 million tourists came to the capital in between July and September. A 19.5 percent rise on the summer of 2012 when London hosted the Olympics.

“For the first time in history, the city [of London] is on course to welcome over 16 million overseas visitors in one year,” the British capital’s tourism agency London & Partners said in a January 16 statement.

Its figures are projections based on passenger surveys compiled by the Office of National Statistics at UK transport hubs. Tourist numbers increased by 12 percent in the British capital in the first nine months of 2013.

“We are the first city in history where the number of tourists has gone up after the Olympic Games not down and I think that is down to a realization of the capital, that took place during the Games, people saw beyond beef eaters and the royal family and heritage, they saw a fantastic vibrant, exciting, sexy, young welcoming city,” said Malthouse, who is also London’s Deputy Mayor for Business and Enterprise.

Royal baby mania, a long hot summer, Andy Murray winning Wimbledon and landmark exhibits about David Bowie and Pompei are all credited with drawing tourists to London.

Annually the number of tourists is up 12 percent and they are spending 120 million pounds more than in previous years. Tourism chiefs believe the trend will continue setting London on target to hit the 16 million visitors mark for 2013, when the last quarterly results are released.