London & Partners, the Mayor of London’s official promotional company announced that London is the most talked about travel destination on Twitter.
According to new research from the company, the word London on its own was tweeted more than 81 million times in 2015, which is more than Sydney, Tokyo and Rome combined. Some of the top words used in association with London include, ‘art’, ‘travel’ and ‘fashion.’
The words ‘London’ and ‘travel’ were tweeted together more than 630,000 times in 2015, which is 200,000 more than the next most popular cities, Paris, New York, Rome and Tokyo.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson commented: “With our unbeatable cultural attractions, outstanding dining and top notch shopping, it's no wonder that London is the most talked about travel destination on social media. Even better, this online chatter is translating into record breaking visitor numbers and our museums, galleries and other attractions continue to top the charts. With another fantastic year of world-class events in store, we look forward to welcoming even more fans of London throughout the coming months and the years ahead.”
On 10 March VisitLondon.com, in partnership with the GREAT Britain Campaign, British Airways and Hilton, launched ‘Fans of London’, a new initiative to celebrate the blockbuster events, exhibitions and anniversaries taking place across the capital this year. Highlights include: the Queen’s 90th Birthday, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s legacy, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the world’s first exhibition of the Rolling Stones.
Fans of London launches with a series of four special “super-fan” films, the first of which follows the journey of Christine Meer, a dedicated American fan of the British Royal family who was hand-picked to visit the capital for the first time, for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Christine was given VIP access to London’s Historic Royal Palaces, as well as a Royal makeover. Christine is a speech therapist for adults.
Additional research from Spredfast highlights that many of London’s top visitor attractions are also generating huge amounts of Twitter traffic. The Coca-Cola London Eye was the most tweeted about attraction in the capital (over the past 12 months) followed by the British Museum and the Natural History Museum in second and third place. Separate research has also shown that:
• London has been Googled more than any other capital city since 2004*
• London is the most ‘selfied’ city on Instagram**
• Social media has an increasing influence over holiday choices, and 89% of those recently surveyed had used social media at some stage of their holiday***
Commenting on the data, Rod Favaron, CEO of Spredfast said: “Social data is always a valuable resource for understanding what interests viewers, consumers, and even travelers. With London’s cultural, historic, and unique entertainment offerings, it’s no surprise that this location is the top travel destination, according to Twitter users. Our own team is often jockeying for more opportunities to travel to our London office, and it appears that they are not alone."
