Numbers of visitors visit London every year: London is one of the world's leading tourism destinations, and the city is home to an array of famous tourist attractions. London attracted 15.3 million international visitors in 2011, making it one of the world's most visited in terms of international visits.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed London had 16.8 million visitors in 2013, an increase of 1.3 million from 2012.
Overseas spending
According to the International Passenger Survey, London's previous best year was 2006 when the city welcomed 15.6 million people.
The majority of visitors were from North America last year, followed by tourists from France and Germany.
Overseas visitors spent an estimated £11.2bn in 2013, with tourists from the US spending the most.
Purpose of Visits: Inbound and Domestic Visitors
Economic recession in UK:
When the UK economy is doing well, its pound sterling is strong. However, having a strong pound actually discourage visitors from overseas because when they exchange their money in pound they will be getting less money, so it make visiting UK expensive and it deter inbound visitor from visiting UK. Regardless to that when UK is in a recession the sterling is weak which means that overseas visitor can get more pounds for their money and would find UK much more cheaper which encourage inbound visitor to visit the UK. A recession can occur in any country and affect travel and tourism in the same way. For example the global recession during 2009, this had affected travel and tourism everywhere. The VisitBritain statistic shows that during a recession visitors from North America were down by 21% from 2008. Also visit from accession (European Union (EU)) countries were down by 24% and that visits from other countries were down by 17%. However as countries emerge from recession, people start to travel again. In 2009, there was an increase