Tourism: Greater London

Tom Brake

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the average expenditure per head by overseas tourists visiting London in the last five years. (179278)

The table shows the average expenditure per visit by overseas tourists to London for the latest years for which data are available.

*Average expenditure per visit*
	London (£, current prices)
2002	499
2003	502
2004	481
2005	494
2006	502
Source: International Passenger Survey (ONS).

The figures exclude expenditure relating to fares for travel to and from the UK, and include expenditure by same day transit visitors.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the number of (a) overseas and (b) UK tourists who visited London in the last five years. (179279)

The tables show (i) the number of overseas visits and (ii) the number of overnight trips by UK residents to London for the latest years for which data are available.

*Overseas visits*
	London (million)
2002	11.6
2003	11.7
2004	13.4
2005	13.9
2006	15.6
Source: International Passenger Survey (ONS).

*Domestic overnight trips by UK residents*¹
	London (million)
2002	16.1
2003	14.3
2004	12.8
2005	10.7
2006	11.0
¹ The methodology for the UKTS changed in 2005 meaning that comparisons with previous years should be treated with caution. This change occurred as a result of concerns with the quality of 2004 data, which are thought to be an under-representation of the true position. Source: UK Tourism Survey (National Tourist Boards).

It is not possible to provide a time series for the number of day visits by UK residents to London as the survey is run intermittently.

Volume 470: debated on Thursday 24 January 2008