Olympic tourism boom for London in doubt

New reports have now come forward that are putting the big tourism boost that was expected from the Olympics in doubt. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, the UK is showing a 10 percent fall already in visits by foreign tourists.

Don Foster, Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media, and Sport Security, said that the UK government was expecting £2 billion in a tourism boost due to hosting the Olympics. However, this so called boost that comes from hosting the Olympics has now come under fire due to these new figures from the Office for National Statistics. Right now 3.3 million fewer people are visiting the UK when compared to last year. Thus, the hopes that the big fall in the pound would help bring in more tourists has now been dashed out.

He went on to say that the UK government has continued to fail at taking tourism seriously. He said that cutting the budget of the body that is responsible for marketing the UK overseas suggests this. These new figures not only suggest this, but shows that the UK is already suffering the results from it.

This news comes at a bad time for the UK, as the whole world is currently suffering from a lack of tourism due to the current recession. Because of things like the recession and the swine flu, people are not only rethinking the way that they spend their money, but they are also rethinking the places where they want to spend their vacation. Many overseas tourists are opting to stay at home rather than to travel.