Visit London survey findings

travmedia.com

"A new survey published today by Visit London reveals what overseas visitors really think about London.Contrary to popular belief, eight in ten visitors find Londoners very friendly or friendly (compared to 75% in 2002 - Londoners are getting friendlier!)

Other findings in the survey include:-

When planning and booking holidays to London, the Internet is overseas visitors’ main source of information, with over half of people preferring to surf the net rather than just 17% who go to a local travel agent.

London’s newest attractions are making a big impact on overseas visitors. The second most recognised of a list of attractions in London after the Tower of London was the Tate Modern (66%). Visitors are also venturing out of the central area more. Three quarters went to the South Bank and Bankside, 30% explored Greenwich, 18% visited Richmond and the Docklands and Wimbledon were on the itinerary of 17% of overseas visitors.

Clothing and shoes are the most popular purchases of visitors from Europe (45%) and the Far East (44%), whereas North Americans prefer to buy souvenirs of London (30%) and speciality British foods (41%). North Americans are also the most likely to be shipping china and glass home (15%) than any other visitors, whilst Europeans are the most likely to be found prowling the music stores for CDs (25%).

92% of visitors spoken to during the summer said that they felt “very/fairly safe’ in London, which compares favourably to the 79% visitor response to the same question in summer 2002. Of those visitors able to make a comparison, over two-thirds (69%) also said that they felt safer in London than Los Angeles and 57% than in New York. Almost 90% of visitors felt safer, or as safe, in London as they did in Rome or in Paris."