Mayor plans £1m campaign to promote London

The Mayor of London today revealed plans to invest £1m in a tourism campaign to help operators in the capital to take advantage of the favourable exchange rate.

The move forms part of the £3b London Plan, which is designed to protect Londoners and businesses from the looming recession and also includes backing a new international convention centre for the capital.

Mayor Boris Johnson said: "This plan is about using all the resources we have at our disposal to help London through the downturn."

The tourism-funding injection received the backing of Grant Hearn, chief executive of budget hotel group Travelodge.

"The Mayor has got it right where central Government continue to dither," he said. "We need to invest these funds in communicating London as a low price, high value destination.

"The weak pound means that for many international markets, London is delivering its best value for a generation. We need to make this message loud and clear if tourism is going to deliver a strong performance in 2009."

The Tourism Alliance praised the Mayor for understanding that, with the fall in the value of the pound against the euro and the US dollar, tourism is one of the key sectors that can deliver growth to the capital next year.

Kurt Janson, policy director at the Tourism Alliance, said: "We can only hope that that central government follows this lead and provides the necessary funding for VisitBritain's ‘Explore Britain' campaign which is planned for early next year."

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By Daniel Thomas

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