Travellers are avoiding London this year, per Google data – here’s where they're going instead

There are infinite reasons London is a bucket-list destination for travellers across the globe – its world-class restaurants, its industry defining theatre, its outstanding architecture and its wild and fascinating history, to name but a few. 

However, if Google data is anything to go by, the Big Smoke seems to be falling out of favour. Travel insurance firm Insure and Go has analysed year-on-year global search trends for flights, hotels and itineraries on Google and discovered that London is one of the destinations for which search interest is going down. Researchers found that there has been a two percent decrease in travel searches for London year on year. 

While international tourist numbers have increased slightly in the capital, they have remained below the 2017 and 2019 peaks of 21.71 million. The numbers also show that tourist spending in the city and across the UK was down in the first half of 2024.

Rising crime, bad weather and high prices could all be reasons for the declining interest. Experts have also cited the UK governments decision to drop tax-free shopping for European visitors as a reason London has become less attractive. 

Other cities that have reportedly seen a drop in online travel searches include Brussels, Berlin, Stockholm and Las Vegas. At the other end of the spectrum, searches for travel in Tokyo have skyrocketed by 64 percent year on year while interest in Rio de Janeiro has grown by 61 percent and searches for Beijing are up 60 percent. 

The cities travellers are ditching in 2025, according to Google data (and their percentage decrease)

1. Havana, Cuba - 28 percent
2. Miami, USA - 15 percent
3. Kingston, Jamaica - 11 percent 
4. Nadi, Fiji - 11 percent
5. Gdansk, Poland - 9 percent
6. Las Vegas, USA - 9 percent
7. Apia, Samoa - 8 percent
8. Stockholm, Sweden - 5 percent 
9. Brussels, Belgium - 5 percent 
10. Berlin, Germany - 4 percent
11. London, UK - 2 percent 
12. Wellington, New Zealand - 2 percent 
13. Singapore - 1 percent
14. Dubai, UAE - 0.3 percent
15. Delhi, Indai - 0.3 percent 

The cities travellers are turning to in 2025, according to Google data (and their percentage increase)

1. Tokyo, Japan - 64 percent
2. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 61 percent
3. Beijing, Chine - 60 percent
4. Lucerne, Switzerland - 51 percent
5. Kuwait City, Kuwait - 44 percent
6. Seville, Spain - 43 percent
7. Chicago, USA - 41 percent
8. Belize City, Belize - 39 percent
9. Chiang Mai, Thailand - 38 percent 
10. Tbilisi, Georgia - 37 percent
11. Hanoi, Vietnam - 33 percent 
12. Nassau, Bahamas - 31 percent 
13. Jakarta, Indonesia - 30 percent 
14. Santiago, Chile - 29 percent
15. Buenos Aires, Argentina - 28 percent 

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