US tourists drive rebound in foreign visitors to London’s top attractions

International tourists are flocking to London’s top attractions in greater numbers than expected as the country emerges from the pandemic, driven by an influx of US visitors taking advantage of relaxed Covid-19 testing requirements and a strong dollar.

However, tourism bodies fear that the slow rebound of the Asian market — particularly high-spending Chinese tourists potentially deterred by the end of duty-free shopping for non-EU visitors — will crimp the recovery.

The Tower of London welcomed more than 70,000 visitors in the week ending July 3, edging above the equivalent week in 2019 for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. In June, US visitors accounted for 45 per cent of ticket sales to the 944-year-old castle, up from 27 per cent before the pandemic.

Over the same period, visitor numbers at the Royal Museums Greenwich sites, which include the Royal Observatory and the Cutty Sark clipper, and Westminster Abbey ran at 83 per cent and just below 70 per cent of 2019 levels respectively. Both attractions rely on international visitors for the majority of their ticket sales, which are rebounding far quicker than anticipated, according to their operators.

Paul Baumann, receiver general at Westminster Abbey, said the Queen’s platinum jubilee in early June had “created a buzz” around the church, in which 39 coronations have taken place since 1066, providing a “priceless advertisement” for visitors from around the world.

“If they’re going to go somewhere for their first trip after the pandemic, it strikes me that the place most Americans reach for first is the UK,” said Baumann. He added that the UK had “shaken off” the bad publicity it received early on in the pandemic when it was derided as “plague island”.

“Europeans . . . were first to return, and now we’re seeing Americans returning to London in significant numbers, and that’s particularly important because they prioritise going to visitor attractions and are big spenders,” said Bernard Donoghue, chief executive of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, adding that sterling falling by 13 per cent against the dollar since the start of the year had been a boon to tourism from the US.

In June, the US government also ended the Covid-19 testing requirement for inbound travellers, easing foreign travel for US citizens.

“London’s appeal remains undimmed,” said Dan Wolfe, commercial director of Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that runs six UK palaces, including the Tower of London. “Despite events of the last few years, London’s culture and history will always be a draw for international visitors.”

The positive trajectory has triggered optimism among operators that earlier projections that international visitor numbers and spending would not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2025 could prove excessively gloomy.

In April this year, visits by inbound tourists were 33 per cent down on the 3.2mn recorded in the same month in 2019, but spending was just 9 per cent below 2019 levels, according to the Office for National Statistics.

But Joss Croft, chief executive of the trade body UKInbound, said the current surge in visits and spending may prove to be “a temporary spike”.

“Even though [tourism from the] US is going very well, there is a concern that a lot of visitors are travelling using travel vouchers issued in 2020 and 2021, and they are burning through their pandemic savings pot, so there are still concerns about what’s going to happen further down the road,” said Croft.

The end of duty-free shopping for non-EU visitors after the UK left the bloc last year may make London a less desirable shopping destination for wealthy individuals, particularly from the high-spending Chinese market.

In 2019, Chinese tourists accounted for just 4 per cent of non-EU visitors to the UK, but were responsible for 26 per cent of spending on tax-free shopping, according to Swiss payments company Global Blue.

Now, they can no longer reclaim the 20 per cent value added tax paid on purchases; the worry is they, and other keen shoppers, will “abandon” London in favour of other European capitals, said Paul Barnes, chief executive of the Association of International Retail.

“Why would the biggest spenders from the US or China choose London to buy designer clothes when they can get the same item 20 per cent cheaper in Paris, Milan or Madrid?,” asked Barnes.

He also added that the UK visa system was “not as good a product” as the 26-nation Schengen visa, because of bureaucratic delays and the EU scheme allowing multiple re-entry as part of its visa waiver programme. The UK’s new visa-free Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme won’t be implemented in full until 2024.

Furthermore, China’s continued zero-Covid policy, which includes official edicts against all “unnecessary travel”, has resulted in a near total collapse in Chinese international tourism.

Baumann said the slow recovery of tourism demand from Asia was “the main thing holding back” tickets sales at Westminster Abbey from the pre-pandemic peak, along with “a bit of weakness” in demand from continental Europe. In May, Asian visitors made up just 3 per cent of total ticket sales, compared with 23 per cent in the same month in 2019.

Asian tourists typically make up a fifth of the £14mn turnover of the four sites managed by Royal Museums Greenwich. At the Royal Observatory gift shop, the average spend from a Chinese credit card was £200 before the pandemic.

“That’s a big loss to stomach,” said Paddy Rodgers, director at the Royal Museums Greenwich. “We have no visibility on when travel from Asia will recover. For the time being, Americans flooding back to London and the strong dollar has been our saving grace.”