Improving the visitor experience

Tourists looking at postcards The visitor's experience of the capital begins when they are deciding where to go for their trip and continues long after their trip has ended.

Consequently, London needs to be exceptional in all aspects of the visitor journey; in providing the motivation to visit, efficient booking systems, an excellent visitor welcome, good quality accommodation and entertainment during the stay, help at the point of departure and in nurturing the memory.

The LDA has a range of programmes to help businesses deliver across the whole visitor journey, including business advice, environmental performance, quality standards, access, marketing, information provision, skills and contingency planning.

Tourism business support

The first ever tailored tourism business support programme for London (Towards 2012) has been launched. This new programme, worth £1.65 m over four years, will provide targeted help in quality, accessibility, environmental performance and contingency planning.

Towards 2012 includes Get London Graded, an ambitious programme to increase the number of hotels in the national quality grading scheme run by VisitBritain and the AA by 50% by 2010. It also includes Green Tourism for London, an independently audited scheme designed to help London's accommodation and attractions improve their environmental performance and save costs. There are subsidies available for both these schemes.

London Open for All is a programme of help and advice to improve the accessibility of the capital in the run up to the Paralympic Games.

What do our visitors think of us?

We will only get better if we know where we are falling down. We launched the London Visitor Survey in September 2006 to improve our understanding of the visitor experience of London and to allow visitor satisfaction to be tracked over time.

What is tourism worth?

For the first time we have a tool (Local Area Tourism Impact model) to provide robust and transparent estimates of the volume and value of tourism in London.

Individual borough reports are now available and provide an invaluable resource to inform tourism development at the local level.

We have also compiled a list of useful reports and links on the value of the visitor economy to London, see the section about Intelligence and business advice.

Building the Visitor Welcome

This project aims to improve the visitor experience of London by improving London's overall welcome and customer service.

The project will focus on; delivering 'gold standard' customer care training, improved overall sense of welcome, London 'Ambassador' training for Street Wardens / Rangers, an official London information marque to identify good quality information sources, support package for Tourist Information Centres, coordination of information points across London to reduce confusion for visitors. We have also published guidance on the use of brown and white tourism signs to help visitors. More information.

London’s Cultural Olympiad, a four-year cultural programme leading up to London 2012, launches on the weekend of the 26-28 September 2008. Overseen by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), the Olympiad will celebrate the city welcoming the world for the Games and promote London as an international cultural capital. The LDA has commissioned a study on the tourism potential of the Olympiad.

Tackling skills shortages

The Hospitality Leisure Travel and Tourism (HLTT) Skills and Employment programme has been running since April 2005. Currently in its third year, it has already seen four new sports and leisure projects begin. These projects are specifically focused on upskilling those individuals working with NEET ('not-in-employment, education or training') groups, trainers and assessors in the leisure and fitness industry.

Business Tourism

We work with Visit London across the sub-regions to maximise opportunities. A new business tourism website and event planners guide has been launched at www.visitlondon.com/business

We have carried out detailed work assessing the feasibility of a London International Convention Centre. More recently we have undertaken work looking at suitable sites for such a development.

Opening up London's theatres

The LDA is supporting The Society of London Theatre to improve access to theatres in the city. London's first comprehensive guide to assisted theatre performances for people with sensory disabilities and disabled access training has been delivered to 250 theatre staff. More information.

Visitor River Services

The River Thames is one of the internationally renowned icons of London. The LDA are working with partners to attract more visitors to include the River in their itinerary and improve the visitor experience. More information.

For further information on any of these projects please email: tourism@lda.gov.uk