Americans lead the way as Coronation sparks tourist boom for Britain

Saturday, May 6, 2023

Tourists from North America looking to catch a glimpse of the newly crowned King have spearheaded a travel boom to the UK ahead of Coronation weekend.

The number of US travellers that have booked flights to the UK for the period leading up to the Coronation is up by more than a tenth on pre-pandemic levels.

The data provided by travel industry analysts showed that, as of April 28, the number of US travellers booking flights to the UK between April 27 and May 8 increased by 14 per cent when compared to the same period in 2019.

Enthusiasm has also grown in recent weeks, with the number of Americans booked to travel to the UK 10 per cent higher in early April.

The Coronation weekend will see hundreds of thousands of people descend on central London, with more than 1.75 million set to visit London’s West End – 24 per cent higher than a normal Bank Holiday weekend.

Laura Citron, CEO of Visit London, said she expected many of these to be overseas visitors as the Coronation had proved to be a major draw for such travellers.

She said: “We have seen a large uplift in bookings from around the world – with particularly strong interest from markets such as the United States.”

Travelling to London for the Coronation was particularly attractive with Denver residents, with the number of people booking from the Colorado city up 87 per cent on 2019, the figures show.

Miami was the second most enthusiastic city, with a 66 per cent jump and Houston was next with an increase of 32 per cent. The data provider said it was unable to share the numbers of bookings due to contractual reasons with its data provider.

A joyous occasion – with plenty of notice

There were a total of 2,877 flights scheduled to land at UK airports on May 5, carrying an estimated 500,000 travellers.

It marks the culmination of one of the busiest weeks for inbound travel since the pandemic, with 18,881 flights scheduled between May 1 and May 7, which is 10 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Mr Ponti said: “The coronation will attract more visitors than the passing of the late Queen, partly because it is a joyous occasion… [but] more because there have been several months’ notice, during which time visitors could book their trips.”

Tom Jenkins, chairman of the European Tourism Alliance, said that he did not think the uptick was a direct result of the Coronation, but said it was part of a major uplift in post-Covid city tourism from American travellers.

He told a news agency that city tourism is recovering throughout Europe, and it’s particularly booming from the United States.

The UK being ten per cent up on 2019 for North America is not surprising, because the rest of Europe is seeing similar figures.

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