Celebs Tell Love London like a Local
As London celebrates record numbers of international tourists coming to the capital, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, actress Joanna Lumley, model and actress Twiggy, Michelin-star Chef Gordon Ramsay and two of the world’s most famous ballet dancers talk about what makes their city “the greatest place on earth” to visit.
The ‘Love London like a Local’ campaign is launched as the latest set of tourism figures from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) show that the city is on course to welcome over 16 million overseas visitors in a year for the first time in history.
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VisitLondon.com, the official city guide, has spoken to celebrities and proud Londoners about what fascinates them about living in the capital and how they spend their free time.
Whether it’s Gordon Ramsay’s reflections on the Royal Albert Bridge, Joanna Lumley’s love of duck ponds or Boris Johnson enjoying sausage and mash in his favorite pub – The London Story – a new video campaign launched Thursday, reveals a new and personal side to the British capital.
Hosting the Olympics has given London a massive boost on the world stage, with huge numbers of international visitors flocking to the city.
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Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for July-September show that a record 4.9 million people visited the city. For the first nine months of 2013 London welcomed nearly 12.8 million visitors, a 12% increase compared to 2012.
International visitors also spent over £3.7 billion on shopping, hotels, restaurants and visiting attractions during the summer, up 5% compared to the same time last year.
The positive picture also is reflected across the UK as provisional estimates show an 8% increase in overseas visitors between July-September, and in the first nine months of 2013 there were nearly 25 million international visits to the UK, up 11% year on year.
Visits from North America (800,000) were up 12.2% in Q3, generating receipts of £560 million, a boost of 8%. You can watch and share their ‘London Story’ at VisitLondon.com/story.
In the picture above: Model and actress Twiggy
