The number of overseas tourist visits to London, United Kingdom continued to grow in 2023, following a sharp drop in 2021, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Despite the significant annual increase, inbound arrivals in the UK's capital remained below pre-pandemic levels, reaching ***** million in 2023. That year, inbound tourist visits to the UK totaled nearly ** million. London leading the way in Europe London’s contribution to inbound tourism in the United Kingdom is significant, with the UK’s capital accounting for over ** percent of international tourist arrivals in the country in 2023. This was more than other leading European destinations, such as Amsterdam, Paris, and Berlin. Those visiting the UK capital also made a significant contribution to the local economy, with expenditure of international visitors in London peaking in 2023, with inbound tourists spending over ** billion British pounds that year. However, this was not reflected in business travel spending in the city, which was nearly half a billion British pounds in 2023 than in 2019. London’s visitor attractions As the largest city in the UK, London is home to some of the country's most iconic visitor attractions. These range from government-sponsored museums, such as the British Museum, to the Tower of London and the ZSL London Zoo. In 2023, the ************** was the most visited tourist attraction in London. Overall, most sites have struggled to match the visitation rates recorded before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, however. For instance, attendance at the British Museum – the most visited free attraction in London in 2023 – declined by around ***** percent from 2019.
In 2023, the number of overseas resident visits to the United Kingdom totaled 38 million, representing a growth of over 20 percent from the previous year. The figure was projected to reach 38.7 million in 2024. Has the UK’s tourism industry completely recovered from the coronavirus pandemic? Like in most countries, the travel restrictions put in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus wreaked havoc on the UK’s tourism industry. Overseas visitor numbers dropped to 7.1 million in 2021, representing a drop of over 80 percent from 2019. While the figure reported for 2023 showed a continued recovery in terms of overseas visitors to the UK, it remained below pre-pandemic levels. However, in terms of spending among the UK’s leading inbound travel markets, most overseas visitors spent more in 2023 than in 2019, with visitors from the UK’s leading inbound travel market, the United States, spending around 50 percent more during their travels than in 2019. What are the most visited cities in the UK? Unsurprisingly, London consistently ranked as the most visited town or city in the UK among international tourists in recent years, drawing in 20.27 million visitors in 2023. This was around tenfold the number of the second-most visited city, Edinburgh, which received 2.32 million visitors during the same year. As the UK’s capital city, London’s tourist attractions are as varied as the city itself; however, one particularly strong draw for inbound visitors is Royal Family-related tourism. This is evident with the top two most visited paid tourist attractions in England being based in London and either belonging to the Royal Family or being run by a Royal-affiliated charity. Meanwhile, among UK residents, London ranks as the second most popular destination for a summer staycation, with the South West ranking first.
Visit Britain publish data relating to international visitors to the UK. They produce the data in two formats - individual spreadsheets for each region that are updated annually, and a single spreadsheet for all regions, containing less detail but updated quarterly. Data shows London totals for nights, visits, and spend. Data broken down by age, purpose, duration, mode and country. This data is also available from Visit Britain website, including the latest quarterly data for other regions. All data taken from the International Passenger Survey (IPS). Some additional data on domestic tourism can be found on the Visit Britain website, and Visit England both overnight tourism and Day visits pages. Data on accomodation occupancy levels is also available from Visit England. An overview of all tourism data for London can be found in this GLAE report 'Tourism in London' Further information can be found on the London and Partners website. Comparisons of international tourist arrivals with other world cities are produced by Euromonitor and in Mastercard's Global Destination Cities Index of 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. This dataset is included in the Greater London Authority's Night Time Observatory. Click here to find out more.
The combined number of tourist visits to London, including trips by overseas and domestic visitors, nearly halved in 2021 compared to 2019 due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The sharp drop in total visits was mainly driven by the significant decrease in inbound arrivals, totaling roughly *** million in 2021. On the other hand, as the travel restrictions enforced during the health crisis disrupted international tourism more than domestic travel, overnight trips to London by British residents bounced back in 2021. That year, domestic trips accounted for around ** percent of tourist visits to the UK's capital.
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Tourist Arrivals in the United Kingdom remained unchanged at 3500 Thousand in September. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Tourist Arrivals- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.
The expenditure of international visitors in London was expected to rise by ** percent between 2023 and 2031. As forecast, spending of inbound tourists in the UK's capital was estimated to total roughly **** billion British pounds in 2023. This number was predicted to grow to nearly **** billion British pounds by 2031. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the international tourist expenditure in London reached in 2021 the lowest figure in over a decade.
The British Museum was the most visited free tourist attraction in London in 2023, welcoming roughly 5.8 million visitors. While attendance at the renowned institution increased significantly over the previous year, the number of visitors remained below the figure reported before the COVID-19 pandemic. This was also the case with many other leading attractions, with only the National History Museum and the Royal Museums Greenwich having higher attendance in 2023 compared to 2019, among the listed attractions. Has tourism in London recovered from the impact of COVID-19? In 2023, the number of overseas visits to London exceeded 20 million. While inbound tourist visits experienced a sharp annual increase, they did not fully recovery yet from the impact of COVID-19. That said, expenditure by international visitors in the UK’s capital had more than recovered in 2023, reaching an all-time high that year. London’s contribution to inbound tourism in the UK Both before and after the pandemic, London was by far the most visited city in the UK by international tourists. When looking at the contribution to inbound tourism of leading European travel destinations, the city’s prominent role in supporting inbound tourism in the UK stands out. In 2023, London alone accounted for over half of inbound tourist arrivals in the country.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly by emailing transport.statistics@dft.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards.
These statistics on transport use are published monthly.
For each day, the Department for Transport (DfT) produces statistics on domestic transport:
The associated methodology notes set out information on the data sources and methodology used to generate these headline measures.
From September 2023, these statistics include a second rail usage time series which excludes Elizabeth Line service (and other relevant services that have been replaced by the Elizabeth line) from both the travel week and its equivalent baseline week in 2019. This allows for a more meaningful like-for-like comparison of rail demand across the period because the effects of the Elizabeth Line on rail demand are removed. More information can be found in the methodology document.
The table below provides the reference of regular statistics collections published by DfT on these topics, with their last and upcoming publication dates.
Mode | Publication and link | Latest period covered and next publication |
---|---|---|
Road traffic | Road traffic statistics | Full annual data up to December 2024 was published in June 2025. Quarterly data up to March 2025 was published June 2025. |
Rail usage | The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes a range of statistics including passenger and freight rail performance and usage. Statistics are available at the https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/" class="govuk-link">ORR website. Statistics for rail passenger numbers and crowding on weekdays in major cities in England and Wales are published by DfT. |
ORR’s latest quarterly rail usage statistics, covering January to March 2025, was published in June 2025. DfT’s most recent annual passenger numbers and crowding statistics for 2023 were published in September 2024. |
Bus usage | Bus statistics | The most recent annual publication covered the year ending March 2024. The most recent quarterly publication covered January to March 2025. |
TfL tube and bus usage | Data on buses is covered by the section above. https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/busiest-times-to-travel" class="govuk-link">Station level business data is available. | |
Cycling usage | Walking and cycling statistics, England | 2023 calendar year published in August 2024. |
Cross Modal and journey by purpose | National Travel Survey | 2023 calendar year data published in August 2024. |
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London Borough level tourism trip estimates (thousands). The ‘top-down’ nature of the Local Area Tourism Impact (LATI) model (starting with London data) means it is best suited to disaggregate expenditure. However, tourism trips were also disaggregated for comparative purposes using the estimated proportions of spending by overseas, domestic and day visitors in the boroughs. Since the trip estimates are derived from data on trips to London they do not account for trips to different boroughs by visitors whilst in London. Indicative borough level day visitor/tourist estimates for 2007 were derived from the LDA’s own experimental London level day visitor estimates. As such the borough level day visitor estimates should be treated with caution and the 2007 day visitor estimates are not comparable with those from previous years. They are intended only to give a best estimate of the scale of day visitor tourism in each borough from the currently available data. Further tourism data for UK regions covering trends in visits, nights, and spend to London by visitors from overseas is available on the Visit Britain website. Analyse data by age, purpose, duration, and quarter. This dataset is no longer updated.
In 2023, spending on domestic overnight trips in Great Britain's capital, London, was around *** billion British pounds, this marks a decrease of around 100 million when compared to the year before, where spending peaked over the period considered.
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Focus on London 2000-2009 archive Focus on London 2009 Packed with interesting information about our capital city, the Focus on London (FoL) report offers a unique snapshot of life in London. The report is produced by the GLA's statistical department, Data Management Analysis Group (DMAG) in partnership with the London Development Agency, Office for National Statistics, London Health Observatory, Met Police, London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade. PDF In addition we’ve created a single dataset for the underlying data that support the report so that everyone can access the data. Excel Focus on London 2008 1 DECEMBER 2008 Focus on London 2008 covers a wide range of demographic, social and economic data, providing a statistical portrait of some of the key issues facing the capital. Produced by the Greater London Authority's statistical arm, Data Management Analysis Group (DMAG) it will be of interest to anyone who has a general interest in, or is carrying out research about, London. The report contains over 200 tables of the latest available data for London on several topics, conveniently presented in one place. This edition continues the series started in 1997. PDF Link to index of CSVs Focus on London 2007 JUNE 2007 This is the latest in a series of statistical publications for London going back over a hundred years and provides a digest of some of the key subjects affecting the capital. Jointly produced by the Greater London Authority and the Office for National Statistics, it brings together a wide range of demographic, social and economic datasets to provide a broad picture of London. Many of the tables, maps or charts in the report set London figures alongside those for the UK or England as a whole while several include data at individual borough level. PDF Focus on London 2003 Focus on London 2003 is a statistical digest bringing together a wide range of demographic, social, industrial and economic statistics to provide a comprehensive view of London. It is the product of a unique collaboration between the Office for National Statistics, the Government Office for London, the Greater London Authority and the London Development Agency. There are 12 chapters each focusing on a different aspect of London with key facts and figures: the overview, population, environment, housing, economy, labour market, education and training, living in London, tourism and leisure, travel and communications, public services and London government. PDF Focus on London 2000 Focus on London 2000 brings together statistical information from a wide variety of sources to paint a picture of our capital city today. It looks at changes over recent years and highlights differences between the boroughs, the Inner and Outer areas and the country as a whole. PDF
The Tower of London was the most popular paid attraction in London in 2023, welcoming roughly 2.8 million visitors. Attendance at the renowned site grew significantly compared to the previous year, nearly catching up with the figure from 2019. Meanwhile, the Royal Botanical Gardens (Kew Gardens) was the second most visited paid attraction in 2023, with just under two million visitors. What is the most popular free tourist attraction in London? In 2023, the British Museum topped the ranking of the most visited free attractions in London, welcoming nearly six million visitors. While attendance at the British Museum did not fully recover from the impact of COVID-19, the number of visitors to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, which came in second in 2023, exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Overall, nine of the ten most visited tourist attractions in London that year did not charge for admission tickets. How many tourists visit London every year? London plays a key role in supporting the travel and tourism sector in the United Kingdom. Both before and after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was by far the city with the highest inbound tourism spending in the UK. In 2023, the number of international tourist visits to London surpassed 20 million, nearly catching up with the overseas tourist visits recorded in 2019.
Dial-a-Ride is a free door-to-door service for disabled and older people who can't use buses, trains or the Tube. Those eligible for membership have a permanent or long term disability which means they are unable or virtually unable to use mainstream public transport. This report details the usage for the specified quarterly, as well as the same quarter of the previous year, to allow for comparison.
There are a number of figures provided:
Find out more about the feeds available from Transport for London here
This statistic shows the number of overseas visits by residents of the United Kingdom (UK) from three of the leading London airports between 2000 and 2019. In 2019, Heathrow was the most popular airport for overseas traveling in the UK, with nearly 22 million visits.
This spreadsheet summarises of the key travel patterns and trends relating to the TFL network and Airports around London. Some of the borough level data has been analysed using these interactive charts. Click on the image to open. The first stack graph shows the spread of mode of travel for each borough. In Kensington and Chelsea over 44 per cent of journeys are made on foot, in Bexley 59 per cent of journeys are in a car/motorcycle, and in Hackney over a 25 per cent of journeys are by bus. The second graph shows the proportion of all road casualties by road user type and borough in 2010. The City of London has the highest proportion of casualties for pedestrians, and cyclists. Some of the airports data has been presented in this one page factsheet that highlights some important facts about flights and passengers at London’s airports. The number one country where people have either come from or going to is the United States. List of tables included in the spreadsheet: 1 Aggregate travel volumes in Greater London. Estimated daily average number of journey stages, 1993-2009 2 Modal shares of daily journey stages in London, 2009 3 Annual passenger kilometres travelled by public transport (millions), London, 2008/09 - 2010/11 4 Annual journey stages by public transport (millions), 1991/92 - 2010/11 5 Index of London road traffic, major and minor roads, all motor vehicles, 2000-2009 6 Trends in road casualties, by personal injury severity, London and GB, 1991-2010 7 London road casualties by mode of travel, 2010 8 Trends in cycle flows on the TLRN, annualised indices, 2000/01 - 2010/11 9 People entering central London in the weekday morning peak, 1978 - 2009 10 Car ownership in Inner and Outer London, 2009/10 11 Hours of serious and severe disruption London-wide, 2009/10 12 Number of road works undertaken on the TLRN, Sep 2009 - Oct 2010 13 London Underground: scheduled and operated train kilometres, 1995/96 - 2009/10 14 London Underground - operated train kilometres (millions) by line, 2009/10 15 Average number of passengers per bus, train or tram, 2001/02 - 2009/10 16 Public transport fares - UK and London compared, 1994/95 - 2009/10 17 Air freight moved through London's principal airports, 1993 - 2009 18 Terminal passengers by London area airport, in millions, 2000, 2010 19 Terminal passengers by London area airport, 1990 - 2010 20 Terminal passengers by flight's country of origin or destination, 2010 21 Road Casualties by Severity and Road User Type, by Borough 2010 22 Data used in the Interactive Chart - Number of trips, distribution of trips by mode and average travel time from home to work, 2007/2008 to 2009/10 (3-year moving average) 23 Data used for Air Transport Factsheet - International terminal passengers at London airports, 2010 - All terminal passengers at London airports, in millions, 2000, 2010 - Terminal passengers at London airports by origin or destination of the flight, 2010 - Number of UK flights and passenger by London airport, 2010 Most data is from the annual report Travel in London 3, Transport for London. Further information, reports and data from the Travel in London series can be found on the TFL website.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bdfe57c32366481ca49169/nts-ad-hoc-table-index.ods">National Travel Survey: ad-hoc data table index (ODS, 27.9 KB)
NTSQ01001: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e1f341be5274a4f0e1b3de8/ntsq01001.ods">Average distance travelled by mode and region, London: 2002 to 2017, rolling 5 year averages (ODS, 10.4 KB)
NTSQ01002: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e1f341be5274a4ef50a0072/ntsq01002.ods">Average number of trips by trip length and main mode, South East England: 2015 to 2017 (ODS, 11.8 KB)
NTSQ01003: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e1f341b40f0b61075a18ca9/ntsq01003.ods">Average distance and trip rate, travelled by main mode for selected trip purposes, England: 2002 to 2017 (ODS, 30.1 KB)
NTSQ01004: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e1f341aed915d7c9da729ee/ntsq01004.ods">Average distance driven by age, sex and the area type of residence, England: 2013 to 2017 (ODS, 13.5 KB)
NTSQ01005: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e1f341be5274a4fac930710/ntsq01005.ods">Distance travelled by car by age: car, van driver, passenger only, England: 2013 to 2017 (ODS, 6.83 KB)
NTSQ01006: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/630e7f358fa8f55368a161ab/ntsq01007.ods">Average miles travelled by mode, region and Rural-Urban Classification for commuting: England, 2018 to 2019 (ODS, 10.7 KB)
NTSQ01007: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/630e7f35e90e0729dd8bb44d/ntsq01008.ods">Average miles travelled by mode, region and Rural-Urban Classification of residence and trip length: England, 2018 to 2019, 2020 (ODS, 27.7 KB)
NTSQ01008: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/630e7f35d3bf7f365f4f7f1a/ntsq01009.ods">Average number of trips by trip length and main mode: South West region of residence, 2017 to 2019 (ODS, 12 KB)
NTSQ01009: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/630e7f35e90e0729e34c5e0f/ntsq01010.ods">Average trip length in miles to and from school by 0 to 6 year olds: England, 2002 to 2020 (ODS, 6.4 KB)
NTSQ01010: <spa
The London Area Travel Survey (LATS) collected data on a sample of rail journeys in 2001. Data items include origin & destination addresses, rail stations used, reason for journey, ticket type, sex and age.
Total visits to the Tower of London in England grew by four percent in 2024 over the previous year. Despite the annual increase, the number of visits remained slightly below the figure reported in 2019, reaching 2.9 million in 2024. What are the most visited heritage sites in England? Both before and after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tower of London topped the ranking of the most visited castles, forts, and monument sites in England. Other popular heritage sites in the country are the Windsor Castle, the Abbey Gardens, and Stonehenge. Overall, visitors to English Heritage sites exceeded six million in the 2023/2024 fiscal year. What are the most visited tourist attractions in London? London is home to some of the most well-known visitor attractions in the United Kingdom. In 2024, three museums ranked as the most visited tourist attractions in London: the British Museum, the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, and the Tate Modern. While attendance at the British Museum and the Natural History Museum surpassed pre-pandemic levels, the number of visits at the Tate Modern remained below the figure from 2019.
Average daily rate (ADR) refers to the average price a room is sold for - it is calculated as room revenue divided by rooms sold. In the second quarter of 2024, the nominal average daily rate for hotels in the United Kingdom's capital, London, stood at ***** British pounds, while the real average rate totaled *** British pounds.
Other important KPIs of the London hotel market
As one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, London’s hotel market is in a prime position for growth. Following the difficulties that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic presented to the tourism industries in both the UK and worldwide, hotel occupancy rates in London stabilized, and stood at over ** percent in the second quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, the nominal RevPAR in London hotels in the same quarter was around *** British pounds.
London vs. the rest of the UK
Compared to other towns and cities, London is by far the most visited UK destination by overseas visitors. Accordingly, it comes as no surprise that occupancy rates outside of London are consistently lower than in the capital. Similarly, the RevPAR in UK hotels outside of London was less than **** the figure in the capital in 2023.
The number of international tourist arrivals to the selected European destinations increased significantly in 2023 over the previous year, experiencing strong signs of recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in some cases even surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Overall, Paris and the Île-de-France region recorded the highest figure among the selected destinations in 2023, with around **** million inbound tourist arrivals. London and Istanbul followed in the ranking that year, with roughly **** million and **** million arrivals, respectively. What are the most visited countries by international tourists? Both before and after the health crisis, France was the country with the highest number of inbound tourist arrivals worldwide. In 2023, inbound arrivals to France reached *** million, the highest figure reported by the country to date. Meanwhile, the United States, which ranked third by inbound arrivals that year, was the country with the highest international tourism receipts worldwide. Has inbound tourism recovered from the impact of COVID-19? While the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide grew sharply in 2023 compared to the previous year, it remained approximately ** percent lower than in 2019. Overall, the total contribution of travel and tourism to the global GDP was **** percent below pre-pandemic levels in 2023.
The number of overseas tourist visits to London, United Kingdom continued to grow in 2023, following a sharp drop in 2021, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Despite the significant annual increase, inbound arrivals in the UK's capital remained below pre-pandemic levels, reaching ***** million in 2023. That year, inbound tourist visits to the UK totaled nearly ** million. London leading the way in Europe London’s contribution to inbound tourism in the United Kingdom is significant, with the UK’s capital accounting for over ** percent of international tourist arrivals in the country in 2023. This was more than other leading European destinations, such as Amsterdam, Paris, and Berlin. Those visiting the UK capital also made a significant contribution to the local economy, with expenditure of international visitors in London peaking in 2023, with inbound tourists spending over ** billion British pounds that year. However, this was not reflected in business travel spending in the city, which was nearly half a billion British pounds in 2023 than in 2019. London’s visitor attractions As the largest city in the UK, London is home to some of the country's most iconic visitor attractions. These range from government-sponsored museums, such as the British Museum, to the Tower of London and the ZSL London Zoo. In 2023, the ************** was the most visited tourist attraction in London. Overall, most sites have struggled to match the visitation rates recorded before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, however. For instance, attendance at the British Museum – the most visited free attraction in London in 2023 – declined by around ***** percent from 2019.