Leading European city tourism destinations 2019-2022, by number of bed nights
The total number of bed nights in popular European city destinations increased significantly in 2022 over the previous year, following a sharp drop with the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Overall, London topped the ranking both before and after the impact of the health crisis, with roughly 59.1 million bed nights in 2022. While this figure more than doubled compared to 2021, it remained below pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, the number of international tourist visits to London totaled around 16 million in 2022.
Tourism in London
With the increase in inbound tourism arrivals and nights, spending by international visitors in London rebounded in 2022. Even in this case, however, the expenditure did not catch up with pre-pandemic figures yet, amounting to approximately 14 billion British pounds in 2022. That year, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in London was expected to reach nearly 11 billion British pounds.