London deserves a mayor who champions hospitality for both residents and tourists
London is a city steeped in history, from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace. It has been the home to thespian greats who have performed in venues in the West End and in Shakespeare’s Globe. It’s also the major European city with the highest number of green spaces.
If culture isn’t for you, then you have the art that is sport. London is the host to seven Premier League football teams, three Gallagher Premiership rugby teams, Wimbledon and the Oval and Lord’s cricket grounds.
Hospitality is the glue that binds all the things that makes London great. As a sector, it provides £36bn and 700,000 jobs to the capital. But London’s hospitality industry remains six months behind the other UK destinations in terms of its post-pandemic recovery.
Tourists are no longer flocking to London in their typical numbers. In 2023, we are expecting a 14 per cent decrease in tourists visiting the capital compared to 2019. Sadiq Khan needs to take a leading role in dealing with this.
Londoners aren’t taking advantage of what London has to offer either. Museums in particular have struggled to attract guests, with both the iconic National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum witnessing a 40 per cent decrease in visitors compared with 2019.
The hospitality industry is being undermined by London’s transport infrastructure. Tourists and Londoners have expressed frustration with faulty tube lines and inconsistent bus routes. Sadiq Khan’s proposed Ulez expansion will provide further challenges to the hospitality sector.
I have a plan to help save our tourist industry and get London up and moving once again. The first thing I will do is re-establish the mayor of London’s role as being the ‘Chief Marketing Officer’ for London.
I will scrap London & Partners, the agency in charge of promoting London across the world, and invest resources into VisitLondon to promote and create relationships with cities both throughout the UK and globally. It shouldn’t be the case that Pennsylvania spends more on attracting tourists than London does. We will also harness the power of London’s world-leading private marketing industry to help target the right audiences and bring them to London.
I will establish a bi-annual Commonwealth Business Summit and establish a new European Strategic Partnership to ensure we remain a competitive option for European businesses looking to float on a stock exchange. We will once again make London, for both tourists and businesses, the place to be.
If it goes ahead, I will reverse the ULEZ expansion that threatens to cripple London. I will also work to enhance our existing infrastructure by upgrading our ageing tube lines, extending light rail and improving our bus connections. This will not only help our hospitality sector by unlocking all of London, but help ensure the whole of London can stay on the move.
As mayor of London, I will work to promote London as the place to hold major events. The London NFL games have brought thousands of fans from America, supporting London’s economy and providing our hospitality industry a much-needed boost. We should take this as inspiration, and work with countries around the world to bring their culture and events to the capital.
London is at its best when people can enjoy all that the city has to offer. We need to unlock London once again to both Londoners and tourists. It is time for a mayor who understands that.