Outer London 'needs more tourism'

Place like Hampton Court Palace need promoting, the report said

More should be done to attract tourists to places outside central London, a London Assembly report has said.

Attractions like Hampton Court Palace need to be promoted in order for such areas to reap the economic benefits of the city's huge tourism industry.

The English capital's total tourism spend is about £15bn a year and supports more than 350,000 jobs, according to the report.

The assembly wants Visit London to fund promotion of outer London attractions.

It also wants more coverage of the places in promotional material and more information on its website and greater liaison with the outer London boroughs.

If the outer London boroughs are promoted, visitors will come Dee Doocey AM

Assembly member Dee Doocey said: "Visit London must stop concentrating the vast majority of their resources in a few square miles of central London, so that outer London can start to reap more of the huge economic benefits of the tourist industry in the capital.

"Outer London is home to a range of attractions that are less obvious but just as worth a visit as those that central London has to offer. If the outer London boroughs are promoted, visitors will come."

The report also said the 2012 London Olympic Games will expose areas such Greenwich and the Docklands to tourists, so Visit London and the London Development Authority should be ready to promote these areas.

The sort of attraction the London Assembly said could be promoted include Horniman Museum in Forest Hill and the Dulwich Picture Gallery both in south-east London and Syon House and Gardens in Brentford, west London in south-east London.

It also recommends museums in the east London including the Geffrye Museum, the Ragged School Museum and the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood.