Sadiq Khan travels to US to ‘bang the drum’ for London

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan with Labour supporters outside Westminster Town Hall after Labour’s wins in Westminster, Barnet and Wandsworth in the local government elections. Picture date: Friday May 6, 2022. (PA Wire)

Sadiq Khan will travel to the US this weekend to “bang the drum” for London’s tourism and tech industries.

The mayor of London will fly to New York, before making his way to San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Los Angeles in a bid to boost London’s tourism industry.

Mr Khan told the PA news agency that he also hopes to use the trip to attract investment to the capital.

He will also discuss pandemic recovery with senior politicians.

London was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, losing £7.4 billion of international tourist spend in 2020 alone.

Mr Khan will launch his new £10 million tourism campaign in New York, alongside mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on a previous visit to New York (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Archive)

He will then meet representatives from Google and LinkedIn in San Francisco, before travelling to Los Angeles to promote London’s film industry.

Sadiq Khan told PA that London has had a “horrible” two years.

“What’s really important is that we encourage international tourists back to our city. We will encourage tourists, we will encourage business, we will encourage investment”, he said.

“We are the greatest city in the world, but we have had a horrible two years.

“The lack of tourists in 2020 meant we lost about £7 billion.

“We want them back, we need them back.”

He added that he intended to use the trip to “bang the drum for London”.

“We’re doing four regions in four days, New York, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Los Angeles,” he said.

“It’s really important that I bang the drum for London, that’s what I intend to do.”