London has less appeal for long-haul travellers, according to a report.

While long-haul travel to major European cities so far this year (January to April) is up 3.9 per cent, London is down 3.7 per cent, an analysis of bookings by travel-pattern monitoring company ForwardKeys shows.

And while long-haul forward bookings for the period May to August 2015 are up 3.7 per cent for major European cities, they are down 1.8 per cent for London.

ForwardKeys co-founder and chief executive Olivier Jager said that travel to London from three important markets – the US, Australia and China – was down four per cent.

But London is still the leading European city for long-haul travellers, with a 14 per cent share of the total market.

The figures showed that for the year so far Munich has had a 15.3 per cent growth in long-haul travel, while Milan, Barcelona and Amsterdam have all experienced double-digit growth.

When Europe grows London should grow with it, not fall behind

Amsterdam (up 13.2 per cent) and Milan (up 10.9 per cent) have the biggest growth in May to August 2015 forward bookings, but Paris is 1.3 per cent down.

Jager said: “These numbers must be a worry for London as it would expect to be the highlight of a long-haul trip to Europe and when Europe grows London should grow with it, not fall behind.”

The ForwardKeys analysis follows recent UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, covering all visits to the UK by overseas travellers.

They showed that spending by overseas residents, which reached record levels last year, was slowing down this year, being 10 per cent lower in the first three months of 2015 than in the same period last year.

The ONS also published travel trends last week which revealed that a record 17.4 million overnight visits to London were made by overseas residents in 2014, an increase of 3.5 per cent from 2013, with €16.7 billion) being spent during last year's visits to the UK capital.