Kippsy.com, the new collaborative accommodation online platform which launched three months ago, has reported an increase in bookings and enquiries from visitors to London from the Middle East, Russia and China.
Phil Cooper, founder and managing director of Kippsy, says: "When we launched Kippsy in July we thought our offering would be popular with visitors from these countries, but we have been overwhelmed and pleasantly surprised by the level of interest we are generating in these regions."
With listings of over 1,000 short-term lets in London from one-night to short stays in apartment-style accommodation, Cooper continues, "The Kippsy platform is catering to visitors who want to live like locals when in London. Our findings are that international business travelers, tourist couples and families are looking for the flexibility and 'home comfort' that staying in self-contained, centrally located apartments provides."
The data from Kippsy, is supported by the statistics from the British Commercial Association which showed a 36 per cent increase in sales this year due to the contribution of Arab tourism in London, estimated to be worth £1.3 billion per year.
Russian tourists spend more than £300 million a year in the UK. While Chinese visitors form 20 per cent of all retail spend in the West End from outside the UK - with an average spend of £776 per transaction, source: Global Blue.
The Rt Hon Maria Miller MP, in her keynote speech at the British Hospitality and Tourism Summit in June 2013, said, "We're seeing big shifts in where our international visitors are coming from. While our immediate European neighbours and the USA remain the source of greatest number of visitors, it should perhaps come as no surprise that in 2011 the highest spending tourists were from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, China and Russia."
