London /

Welcome to Our Travel Blog About London

London

Hello and welcome to our blog, dear reader! We are very pleased to present you with this blog dedicated to exploring the gorgeous capital of the United Kingdom – London. Let this blog serve you as a travel guide to London if you want to experience everything the city has to offer you.

We decided to dedicate our first post to London itself and to tell you some fun facts about the tourist industry in the city, which is visited by millions of people every day. We hope you enjoy reading our first post and that you come back for more!

A Very Brief History of London

London is among the oldest still-standing cities in the world. In fact, there still exists a bridge (in ruins) from the Bronze Era, dating back to 1750–1285 BCE. In 47 AD, after the Romans invaded the island, they created a settlement that they called Londinium; the name was likely derived from Brittonic. Londinium thus became Britannia’s capital.

Later, when the Romans left Britannia, the Anglo-Saxons conquered the lands in the early 6th century and created a settlement close to Londinium that they named Lundenwic. King Alfred the Great, however, moved the settlement, now referred to as London, back to its Roman site.

Despite the fact that the capital of Anglo-Saxon England was Winchester, London became the biggest city and attracted foreign traders due to its geographical position.

The Normans, led by William the Conqueror, expanded London significantly and turned it into the capital of their newly conquered country. William became the first monarch to be crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1066, starting a tradition that lives on today.

Today, the City of London (not to be confused with London) remains the same size as its Middle Age counterpart. During the age of the British Empire, London also became the capital of the biggest empire to ever exist.

Ever since 1066, London has been the capital of England, and later the United Kingdom. What started as a small settlement is now a city with a population of almost 9 million people and sites that put many other cities to shame.

Fun Facts About the Tourist Industry of London

You already know that London is among the most visited cities in the world, but you perhaps don’t know how many people exactly visit it each day and year. You can learn this and many more interesting facts about London and its tourist industry in this section:

  • London is the third most visited city in the world. The first most visited is Bangkok and the second most visited city is Paris.
  • London is visited by about 20-30 million people who spend more than a day there every year.
  • Many daytrippers visit London every year and their number is around 300 million every year.
  • Tourists spend about 2 billion pounds in London per year.
  • The London tourism industry employs more than 700,000 people.
  • Tourism in the UK makes up for 3.4% of the country’s GDP. Half of this figure comes from London alone.
  • Tourism in London makes up 11% of the city’s GDP.
  • The Royal Family is a big attraction to foreign tourists who flock to London to get a glimpse of them or to just visit their palaces. It’s estimated that the Royal Family brings in about 50 million pounds a year in tickets sold to visitors of their estates (in London, this includes Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, The Tower of London, and Hampton Court among others), and another 20 million pounds for retail sales.
  • London has 11 Royal Palaces (although it has many more, which were abandoned or destroyed).
  • London has over 170 museums.
  • Many London museums are free.
  • Tourists in London in the early 20th century could buy hard drugs like cocaine and heroin over the counter. They were advertised as gifts for friends and relatives, and famously, Sigmund Freud (who lived and later died in London) used to give his closest ones such gifts.