Games have pulled 100,000 foreign tourists into the capital, much lower than the 300,000 expected in a typical summer
Leading London attractions see visitor numbers fall by 35 per cent
Hotel bookings in London 'very substantially down'
Businesses near sailing venues in Weymouth and Portland say this year's summer tourist season is the worst in half a century
By Rob Preece
The number of foreign tourists visiting London has fallen by two-thirds during the Olympics in a trend businesses are blaming on warnings of traffic chaos and overpriced accommodation.
The Games have helped pull some 100,000 visitors into the capital from overseas, with sports fans eager to watch global superstars such as sprinter Usain Bolt and basketball player LeBron James in action.
But this figure is well below the 300,000 tourists who would be expected to visit the city in a typical summer, and the Government was today facing accusations that it had 'overhyped' the benefits of the Games.
Businesses based near the Olympic sailing venues of Weymouth and Portland, in Dorset, have seen a similar trend, with some claiming the current summer tourist season is the worst in half a century.
Parts of west and central London have been likened to a ‘ghost town’ by a businesses who fear the stay-away factor could be damaging to the economy.
Hotel provider JacTravel, which books more than 500,000 bookings a year in London, said numbers were 'very substantially down' compared with the same period last year.
Shops, museums and theatres have also seen their takings hit, with trade down by as much as 35 per cent.
David Tarsh, of JacTravel, said: 'The Olympics, whilst they have attracted a lot of people for the sport, have created an environment in which regular leisure tourists are put off.
'People believe that, if the Olympics are on, the place will be extortionately expensive, overcrowded and hard to get around, and so they don't come.
'In addition, regular tour operators who do bring tourists in all the time can't negotiate rooms on the terms that they normally can, which makes it effectively uneconomical to offer breaks in a host city.'
Mr Tarsh said the Government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should shoulder some of the blame for the fall in visitor numbers.
He added: 'During the Olympics hotels offer completely different terms to the terms they offer during the regular leisure tourism season.
'They want the money up front, you have to pay them more and the tour operators have said, "well, on that basis, we're not going to come."
'If they can't get enough people to fill all the rooms they have reserved, they lose their deposit.
'It is easy to blame the hotels for asking extortionate rates, but they deserve a little sympathy because, in most cases, they haven't catered for Olympic tourists before.
'You can definitely blame the Government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who have overhyped the event and have claimed it brings more benefits in terms of tourism than are realistic.
'The consequence of that is, because they're the Government and the IOC and they're the people who ought to know, hotels have been suckered into taking their word.'
The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), which represents 42 popular venues including the British Museum and London Zoo, said visitor numbers had fallen by between 30 and 35 per cent in the last two weeks.
The body's chief executive, Bernard Donoghue, said: 'For some of our members, it was the wettest spring and early summer that they could ever expect and those attractions that depend on the weather were severely affected.
'But the other factor that has affected visitor numbers is something they did expect - every Olympic host city has seen its overseas visitors go down during the period of the Olympics.
'Many Olympic visitors think it is going to be crowded and potentially too pricey.
'The type of overseas visitors who normally come are staying away and the visitors who do come tend to be Olympics-focused and may not go to galleries, cathedrals and museums.'
Mr Donoghue added that the drop in foreign visitors could benefit Britons who want to see attractions which are normally busier.
'The good news for Brits is there has never has been a better time to visit an attraction in London,' he said.
'There are fewer queues, tickets are guaranteed and many of the attractions have longer opening hours.'
Despite the fall in visitor numbers, Mr Donoghue said attraction bosses believed they would eventually see a tourism boost as a result of London's staging of the Games.
He said: 'All of the visitor attractions are taking the long-term view, which is that the Olympics is good for London and good for Britain because it is showing Britain off to the world's biggest-ever television audience.
'We would assume we will get the most benefit from hosting the Olympics not now but next year and the year after.'
The number of shoppers visiting the West End on Saturday was down nearly 12 per cent compared to last year.
Smaller vendors on Oxford Street reported a 30 per cent drop in sales.
The Earl of Bradford, owner of Porters restaurant in Covent Garden, said takings had been only £1,600 last Friday, down by more than £4,000, or 72 per cent, on the same day last year.
'This is nothing short of disastrous at Porters,' he told the Evening Standard. 'We have been concerned about the Olympics for some time but the reality is even worse than we thought - the whole Covent Garden area is so quiet, when it is normally humming with activity.'
Theatres have also seen a significant decline in ticket sales.
Nimax Theatres, which runs six venues in the West End, reported that last week was its worst this year.
It has forecast that sales will be down 30 per cent over the summer.
The company's chief executive, Nica Burns, said: 'We're bleeding. For my six theatres, last week was the worst this year. I think the Olympics are great, but I feel like I've been the bullseye for the archery competition.'
Hotels began cutting their prices in June in an effort to fill empty rooms.
The website hotels.com said the average room price in London was slashed by a quarter after it was warned there was a 30 per cent drop in bookings during the Games.
Joel Brandon-Bravo, UK managing director of the travel website Travelzoo, said: 'As with the royal wedding, it does look like many hoteliers overestimated demand and are now left with empty rooms to fill.'
David Cameron, who took the Tube to the Aquatics Centre to watch British diver Tom Daley compete yesterday, had pledged that the Games would bring £13billion of economic investment over four years.
But critics have complained that there are few short-term benefits.
Mark Field, a London Tory MP, said: ‘The message has been going out for months that London would be packed to the rafters – and the transport system would be under pressure – and that has put a lot of people off.
‘The high-end hoteliers are fine because of all the official Olympic guests, but many others have not benefited so much.’
Business leaders in Weymouth and Portland, where the Olympic sailing venues are located, told a similar story today as they hailed this summer’s tourist season as the worst for half a century.
Visitors’ concerns over traffic congestion and inflated prices appear to have sent them elsewhere.
John Pearce, owner of award-winning Alf’s Traditional Fish and Chip Shop in Weymouth, said this summer’s trade had been down by 30 per cent on last summer.
He said: 'We haven’t known anything like it. This business has been here since 1955, and this is the worst summer season of the lot.
'We were hoping for a bumper summer but a lot of our regular holiday makers have said they thought Weymouth would be extremely busy, so they have gone elsewhere.
'Customers say signs on the M3 (the main route from Greater London towards Dorset) with an advanced notice of heavy traffic into Weymouth have made them think about going elsewhere.'
Bob D’Agostino, proprietor of the Riverhouse Inn in Weymouth, said his business did not have a single booking during the next fortnight, during what is traditionally a lucrative and crucial time for accommodation providers in the area.
He said: 'There were a lot of roadworks in the months leading up to the Games, which affected trade, but we accepted it because we were told we would reap the rewards.
'But that couldn’t be further from the truth. We are normally booked one month in advance during this time, but there has been so much talk about traffic that people just haven’t turned up.'
Weymouth and Portland mayor Margaret Leicester admitted local traders had been hugely disappointed with what was anticipated as an excellent fillip for waning businesses.
She said: 'A lot of work has been done to improve access, and a lot of money spent.
'But I know much of the trade has been in the beach area, and not spread out to the shops and businesses elsewhere in Weymouth and Portland.
'A lot of the cab drivers are complaining, shops are saying trade is down. It might be that those visitors who are coming just want to enjoy the Olympics, and are not the traditional-style holiday makers we are used to.'
The mayor said the full extent of the summer trade would be debated at the end of the season.
In London, Mayor Boris Johnson has been warning travellers for months to avoid the centre of the capital if possible.
Yesterday usually jammed roads such as The Embankment and London Bridge were completely clear of traffic.
The surprising turn of events was credited to staff being allowed to work from home and the decision to open some of the Olympic carriageways to other drivers.
The Games Lanes, which are generally reserved for Olympic athletes and VIPs, were at times turned off because they were not being used by officials.
Mr Johnson revealed International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge travelled on the Docklands Light Railway yesterday.
He said: ‘We’re pleased with the way it’s working so far, everybody at London Bridge was working well, the Tube is working well.
‘We’ve been able to turn off a lot of the Games Lanes because so many people are going by public transport. Jacques Rogge himself today took the DLR, I’m proud to say, and was conveyed in stately style and comfort.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181313/Olympics-London-2012-London-visitor-levels-fall-thirds-fears-traffic-chaos-high-prices.html#ixzz22DgmWTV8
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