Tourism And Leisure
National Gallery still top of the bill
Top five tourist attractions in London: number of visits, 2001
Many of London’s visitors come for the world famous attractions, the majority of which are art galleries and museums. The National Gallery was the most popular attraction in 2001 for the first time; previous top billing, between 1994 and 2000, went to The British Museum. The four most popular attractions include two of the newest, the London Eye and Tate Modern.
London continues to be one of the most popular cities for overseas tourists with 11.5 million visitors in 2001, although there was a drop of 13 per cent between 2000 and 2001, and a 15 per cent drop in overseas visitor spending. The weak global economy and the effect of the Foot and Mouth outbreak were partially responsible, but there was also the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Visits to London by North American residents in the fourth quarter of 2001 declined by 35 per cent when compared with the equivalent quarter of 2000. Since this was a much steeper fall than earlier in 2001, and directly followed the September 11 attacks, it is reasonable to assume that the attacks caused much of this decline.
People living in London take part in a variety of sporting and cultural activities, including going to the cinema and watching football. London was home to 12 teams in professional football leagues in 2002/03, six of which were in the FA Premier league.
Source: English Tourism Council; International Passenger Survey, Office for National Statistics; United Kingdom Tourism Survey, sponsored by the National Tourist Boards; Sport England; Expenditure and Food Survey, Office for National Statistics; Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
List excluding two attractions where the operators did not authorise figures for publication. British Airways London Eye figure estimated.
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