The gap between the recovery in the number of international tourists visiting London and the spending associated with them widened in the final quarter of last year, sparking fresh calls yesterday for the “tourist tax” to be scrapped.
Overall visitor numbers in the capital in the three months to the end of December were level with the same quarter in 2019, but spending was down by 15 per cent, figures released by the New West End Company show.
Spending was down 19 per cent last year, while visitor numbers were 4 per cent off 2019 levels.
Madame Tussauds in central London, whose wax figures include the Queen, attracts tourists, but overall spending levels have prompted concerns among businesses
YUI MOK/PA
The lobby group, which represents businesses in central London, said the figures “add weight to the calls from businesses to remove the tourist tax, which is responsible for a
