2013: A Good Summer (for London)

When I try to imagine popular holiday destinations, London is not the first place that comes to mind. Millions of people seem to disagree, however, as foreign tourists visiting this city hit an all-time high in 2013. Apparently London had close to 4.9 million visitors last summer, 20% more than the previous “Olympic” year. In all honesty this doesn’t make much sense to me but who am I to dispute facts? According to various sources Andy Murray’s victory at Wimbledon, the birth of Prince George, and the long hot summer were contributing factors. Frankly I don’t understand how any of these could be more important than the Olympics. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, took advantage of this convenient statistic to make some incredibly questionable comments (most green space?) about the great city:

“These incredible figures prove that London is without doubt the greatest city on the planet. With so many fascinating museums, the best theatre scene in the world, more green space than any other European city, numerous top sporting venues, a low crime rate and much else besides, it’s no wonder that people from all over the globe are flocking to London in record numbers.”