Tourist footfalls from India surge over 40 pct in London, spending increases 10 pct

India has emerged as one of the fastest growing tourism markets for London, registering a nearly 40 percent increase in Indian tourist footfalls in the British capital last year.

India has emerged as one of the fastest growing tourism markets for London, registering a nearly 40 percent increase in Indian tourist footfalls in the British capital last year.

According to the latest International Passenger Survey data released this week, Indian tourist visits rose from 273,400 in 2016 to 382,400 in 2017, marking a 39.9 percent increase.

The spending by these Indian tourists also registered an increase of nearly 9.5 percent.

"I'm delighted that so many more Indians have chosen to visit London this year, joining the thriving Indian community that already lives, study and work here," said Laura Citron, CEO of London & Partners which runs VisitLondon.com.

London & Partners is the promotional company for the British capital.

India ranked 15th on a worldwide tourism scale for London, with the US, France, and Germany making up the top three countries from where tourists come to the British capital.

China ranked 19th with 219,400 visitors coming in 2017 and Japan came in at 23rd with 174,800 tourists last year.

The other countries to mark a significant jump in numbers over 2016 was Iceland and Serbia, which registered a hike of 89.6 percent and 70.8 percent respectively.

"London offers a range of fantastic experiences, cultural institutions, top restaurants, shopping and green spaces for visitors from all over the world. Next year will also see exciting events such as the Cricket World Cup come to London and we're looking forward to another record year of visitors," Citron said.

Overall, the British capital registered 4 percent growth in international visitors to London from 19.1 million in 2016 to 19.8 million in 2017.

Spending by international visitors was up 14 percent year on year, to a record GBP 13.5 billion.

With recent weeks of sunshine and heatwave during the peak holiday season in the UK, popular tourist destinations such as London Zoo and Greenwich Park have already seen a rise of about six percent visitors as compared to last year in the corresponding period.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)