About us

The London Tourism Cooperative (LTC) was formed in 2020 by Jonathan Mountford and his colleagues at made marketing agency, in response to the global pandemic and the devastating impact it’s had on London’s tourism industry. LTC is a not-for-profit marketing consortium made up of over 120 members ranging from national museums to major hotel chains and West End theatres and restaurants. LTC is run by volunteers and is supported by all the major tourism industry bodies including VisitBritain, London and Partners, UKinbound, ETOA, VisitEngland, BETA, Coach Tourism Association and ALVA 

LTC aims to help kick-start the tourism recovery for London by organising and promoting a range of marketing and PR activities through 2021 to attract domestic and – in time- international audiences back to the capital. LTC has in-kind media support from a range of partners and its success relies on the combined efforts of Jonathan and the team at made, talented volunteers, generous media owners, sponsors and the kind cooperation and collaboration of its members. 

Source: VisitBritain Inbound COVID-19 Sentiment Tracker

What will 2021 bring?

Current forecasts for London:

• Inbound tourism spend will be 23% of the 2019 figure
• Domestic tourism spend will be 63% of spend levels in 2019

2021 a year of domestic travel

• 60% global travellers say they will favour domestic travel over international travel
• Londoners will be tourists in their own city

When can we expect recovery?

• 37% of UK adults are planning a domestic trip between July and September
• 23% do not intend to take a trip this year

What will trigger travel?

Mostly health and monetary reasons:

• Availability of the vaccine
• Decrease in cases at a destination
• Money-back guarantee for cancellations
• Removal of quarantine policies

Source: VisitBritain

VisitBritain is forecasting 16.9million inbound visits in 2021. While this is an increase of 73% on 2020, it is less than half of the 40.9million visits the UK saw in 2019.

Inbound visitor spending is forecast to reach £9.0bn in 2021. Although up 59% on 2020, it is less than a third of the all-time spending high of £28.4bn seen in 2019.

VisitBritain estimates that the UK Economy lost £57.2bn from domestic tourism spending in 2020 alone. It is forecasting a recovery of £61bn but will still lose £30bn compared with record levels of £91bn in 2019.

Source: ONS

ONS has published the latest furlough data.

This data shows that 38% of people working in accommodation and food services and 55% of people working in Arts, Entertainment and Recreation were furloughed compared to the average of 16% across all industries.

The latest visitor figures from the National Museums have been published and worryingly, show that visitor numbers have declined from 25% of a typical year to 20% during the autumn

• Over the last five years the UK tourism industry has grown by more than 4% pa.

• In the three years after the Global Financial Crisis, tourism accounted for a third of all new jobs.

• Although cities such as London are key drivers, the sector also generates revenue of £34bn per annum from rural and seaside destinations.

There really are so many benefits to enjoy as part of your membership, all of which are aimed at helping you grow your business. It is important for us to ensure that all of our members feel that they are getting the maximum return on their participation in the Cooperative.

With at least one free event bi-monthly there will be plenty of opportunities for you to raise your profile, make new contacts and discuss industry issues whether it be Brexit, insights, market intelligence, jobs or skills. So, tell us what’s on your mind and we’ll give you a platform to ensure your voice is heard.

Grow your knowledge through a yearly series of seminars, masterclasses and workshops. Get to grips with the latest trends and engage with key tourism bodies, the media and businesses from around the world.

Tour operator members can attend regular familiarisation trips and suppliers can showcase the best of their product, destination or services via our exclusive marketing services, many of which are free.

By developing a destination marketing strategy to promote the region in the short to medium to long term.

We will partner with travel professionals in our area in order to create a strategy that attracts a wide variety of travellers to our destination.

We will also:

• Run Online Advertising campaigns

• Promote our city and region offline
– mediums we will turn to might include newspapers, travel publications and television advertising. These efforts can also be targeted locally, nationally or internationally

• Make the most of Social Media – with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn all offering different features and allowing us to reach different demographics

• Collaborate with Media through the Travel Writers Alliance and British Guild of Travel Writers

• Collaborate with Social Media Influencers

• Use Brand Ambassadors

• Use Travel Websites to promote our region