London’s tourism industry is struggling to compete with the impact of the Olympic Games, which has left the host city a “ghost town”, businesses said last week.
Normally tourists will visit central London but they are mostly here to see the Games
Many traditional tourist hotspots have reported a fall in ticket sales as visitors flock to Olympic venues across the capital.
Theatre companies said they were seeing a “mixed picture” with many companies struggling due to the lack of footfall in the West End.
Mark Rubinstein, president of the Society of London Theatre, said: “Normally tourists will visit central London but they are mostly here to see the Games.
“The message about travel problems also seems to have kept people away. My experience is things are running smoothly and people should not be put off.
“There is a great opportunity to get out there to see some fantastic shows.”
Sri Balay, online sales manager at Leicester Square Box Office, said: “Theatre in general is pretty quiet. We have a lot of visitors going past but they are going to Olympic events or spending a lot on hotels.
“We would usually be busy at this time of year because it’s the summer holidays and lots of families enjoy going to the theatre. But at the moment it’s very quiet.”
Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, said cab drivers had been hit hard and described London as a “ghost town”.
Mr McNamara added: “Anecdotally our business is down by about 20-40 per cent depending on the time of day.
“Normally about 90 per cent of our customers are Londoners but they’ve all left the city and haven’t been replaced by tourists.
“I don’t know where all these tourists are or how they’re getting about but London is like a ghost town.”
A spokeswoman for the British Museum said there had been a fall in the number of visitors.
“Anecdotally at the moment, it is looking like we are about 25-30 per cent down on the same time last year,” she said.
“The positive thing from the museum’s perspective and something we would be keen to get across is that we are open and ready to take visitors and so it is an extremely good time to come to the British Museum and we would encourage everyone to do that.”
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that businesses which have marketed themselves effectively around the Games were seeing a “big boost” in trade, while sports minister Hugh Robertson said companies have had “ample time to plan” for the impact of the Olympics.
Their comments came as Transport for London abandoned recorded warnings from Mayor Boris Johnson about expected congestion, which have been blamed by some businesses for scaring people away from the city centre.
Mr Johnson admitted the Olympics have had a “patchy” effect on London businesses, but said some areas of the capital were doing “really well”.