British Olympic success will drive tourism to the London 2012 games

The British team’s outstanding performance in Beijing will drive domestic tourism to the London 2012 Games, Visit London claimed today.

Team GB is on track to achieve its best Olympic performance since 1928, with its total medal tally currently at 28: 13 golds, seven silvers and eight bronzes.

Visit London chief executive James Bidwell said: “Team GB has made us all proud over the last few days. The gutsy performances and sheer determination shown by our athletes have been phenomenal. Our sportsmen and sportswomen are the pride of London and Britain.

“These results will only energise the British public ahead of our own London Games in 2012. The majority of visitors to London 2012 will be domestic visitors and no doubt great sporting expectations and results will help us deliver the 2012 tourism legacy.”

A report by Oxford Economics predicted that there would be 908,000 visitors to London during the 2012 Games: 586,000 domestic and 322,000 from overseas.

The Government has estimated that the tourism legacy of the 2012 Olympics will be £2.1b, but industry bodies have warned that the recent 18% cut in funding for VisitBritain and the lack of a coherent tourism strategy mean this is not guaranteed.

UK tourist bodies promote London Olympics to China >> 

Tourism Alliance hits out at Olympic trip after cutting VisitBritain job cuts >> 

Visit London and VisitBritain to set up Olympics industry group >> 

VisitBritain begins staff redundancy talks >> 

Government's tourism strategy criticised by MPs >> 

By Gemma Sharkey

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