MOST POPULAR CITY IN THE WORLD FOR FOREIGN TOURISTS

———————–London——————

[This post originally appeared on Business Insider.]

London is officially the most popular destination in the world for foreign tourists.

A new report from the UK’s Office for National Statistics shows that the British capital city saw 16.8 million foreign visitors in 2013 — more than Paris, New York, and other top tourist cities.

(By comparison, New York City saw nearly 53 million visitors in 2012, but only 10.9 million were from foreign countries.)

This has been a huge boost to the economy, with foreign tourists spending over £11 billion ($18.6 billion) on hotels, restaurants, attractions and shopping in London.

The report also showed that most of the international visitors are from the U.S., France, and Germany. Americans also spend the most, dropping over £1.5 billion ($2.5 billion) on travel expenses. Travelers from the Middle East are also big spenders, dropping about £888 million ($1.5 billion) in the UK.


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