The popularity among Britons of taking holidays and short trips in the UK rather than jetting off abroad has risen over recent years.
Experts believe the fact that many consumers are looking to save money is one of the main reasons for this.
After all, heading to stay in hotels in London and other towns and cities generally requires less transportation costs than setting off to foreign destinations.
Therefore, the so-called ‘staycation’ can provide people with a good opportunity to take a break from their daily routines and relax somewhere different.
Also, staying in London hotels and others around the UK has less of an impact on the environment than taking a plane to get to far flung destinations.
This may also have contributed to the increasing popularity of domestic holidays.
New research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown that British tourists spent more than £66 billion on holidays in this country in 2006.
Some of this would have been used to help pay for hotels in London.
An article in the October edition of Economic & Labour Market Review described the new satellite accounts for tourism on which the figures are based.
Head of the organisation responsible for collecting the figures Sean White said: “ONS set up its Tourism Intelligence Unit in 2008 to improve tourism statistics. The creation of this Tourism Satellite Account is an important piece of its work.
“This now allows us to separate the expenditure of UK residents from tourists, which are taken together in the main national accounts.”
Of course, not all the money spent by tourists came from those staying in London hotels. Other areas of the UK also benefited.
Also, just over £50 billion was spent on overseas trips by those keen to get out of Britain and visit somewhere else.