The number of overseas trips to London continued to fall in August in reaction to the bombings two months earlier, said tourist body Visit London.

Its monthly London Visitor Index dropped to its lowest level in two years during August.

London museums have been hardest hit by the slump in tourism, with visitor numbers down by 25% in August and 15% in early September.

Hotels, too, had a hard time. Occupancy dropped by between 10% - 16% and revenue per available room was between 9% - 12% lower than in August 2004.

However, most of the capital’s hotels held their room rates (which rose between 2% - 5%) in anticipation of a quick recover in September and Visit London also forecasts a strong rebound in the market.

The number of passengers passing through London airports increased marginally in August by 0.7%, but the strike at airline caterer Gate Gourmet depressed traffic through Heathrow by 3%.

Visit London insisted that the underlying prospects for the city remained good.

It described the fall in overseas trips to the capital in July and August as a “dent” rather than a “collapse” in activity that followed seven quarters of consecutive growth.

In the three months to June 2005, in-bound visits to London grew by 10.2% and the amount spent by foreign tourists increased by 5.2% to £1.7b. The number of European visits soared by 16% although trips from North America were 4% lower than in August 2004.

The overall number of overseas visits to the UK grew by 3% to 3.25 million in August, although spend dropped marginally to £1.7b. The biggest growth came from the North American market, which grew by 15%.

“Much of this growth can be put down to a show of solidarity by Americans after the London bombs,” concluded Visit London.

By Angela Frewin

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