London falls out of favour with US tourists

The weak dollar-pound exchange rate has seen London drop eight places in the most popular tourist destinations among US travellers, a survey has found.

The report by internet media travel company Cheapflights suggests that London now ranks 15th, compared with seventh last year.

The research, which analysed the number of clicks made by users searching for flights to London in July on cheapflights.com, found that the weakness of the dollar to the pound continues to deter US visitors, with annual numbers still 100,000 below pre-2000 levels.

It ties in with last week's International Passenger Survey which found a 5% drop in US passengers between January and July compared with the same time frame last year.

Patricia Yates, head of publicity at VisitBritain said that the results only confirm what is already known about the US market.

"I think we know that the weak dollar is making it a difficult market for us, especially when other destinations such as the Philippines and Vietnam have exchange rates moving in a more favourable direction for US tourists," she said.

Industry data: Overseas travel and tourism >>

Numbers of domestic visitors to London up >>

International tourists to the UK hits all time high >>

By Tom Vaughan

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