LONDON TOURISM MIGHT RETURN TO PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS ONLY AFTER 2025: MAYOR SADIQ KHAN

Fri 21 January 2022:

London tourism may not recover to pre-coronavirus levels until the mid-2020s, according to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who urged the government to put together a package of support measures for the impacted firms.

“It is estimated that it could take until at least 2025 for domestic and international overnight visitor numbers to return to the levels seen in 2019, with spending predicted to take until 2026 to surpass pre-pandemic levels,” the London government said in a statement, citing an analysis published by Khan.

The London mayor called on the British government to take “meaningful action” to prevent job losses and help residents overcome financial hardships inflicted by COVID-19.

“I have committed to doing everything I can to support London’s economic recovery now, and in the years to come. But the stark reality is that these sectors won’t be able to sustain pre-pandemic levels of employment until tourists return in significant numbers,” Khan said.

In 2019, London recorded 147.4 million overnight stays by tourists with total spending of 18.8 billion Pounds ($25.6 billion), and in 2021, the number of overnight visits was more than twice as small as before the pandemic, amounting to 60.8 million. Last year, tourists spent 3.8 billion pounds in London, the mayor said.

On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who came under fire from his own Conservative party for attending a party on Downing Street while the country was under lockdown, announced that the newest set of restrictions, imposed in December owing to the Omicron type, will be lifted next week. The face mask mandate, COVID-19 passports in specific public locations, and the suggestion to work from home will all be repealed as a result of this.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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