The experience economy refers to culture, events, sports, attractions, retail and hospitality that are tradeable. This means that a significant share of their sales is to visitors, though Londoners enjoy them too.
Why it matters
While most of these sectors do not rank among the most productive, the experience economy matters because it is what makes London a brilliant place to visit, study and live.
London is the world’s favourite destination[65] and one of the most visited places on the planet. Visitors sustain the world-class London experience – such as culture, food and drink, events and nightlife – which make the city a magnet for the world’s best talent.
The visitor economy can help to regenerate local areas and sustain vibrant places for residents to enjoy alongside tourists.
Places for growth
- Nurture London’s city centre as the most exciting and inspiring place on Earth: London must use its planning, licensing, placemaking and infrastructure powers to nurture the city centre.
- Grow world-class visitor destinations across the city: London has the opportunity to create new, internationally significant visitor destinations outside the city centre and grow destinations in outer London.
- Create new venues for a thriving events sector: London lacks major venues, which will limit the growth of its event sector.
Explore London’s current and future experience economy clusters on the map.
What we will do
To grow London’s priority sectors, we will:
- Grow the skilled workforce: This is the primary task, as all our priority sectors rely on human capital. The plan for this is in the inclusive talent strategy.
- Promote the sectors to win international investors and customers: We will promote London’s strengths in the key sectors and focus our inward investment activity on them. The plan for this is in investment and promotion.
- Dramatically increase investment into innovative companies: This is especially relevant for frontier innovation, but is also critical to grow technology companies. The plan for this is in investment and promotion.
- Support our growth sector businesses to scale internationally: Exporting is key to our ambition to grow global companies. The plan for this is in backing our businesses.
- Set a City Innovation Strategy: Use the power of London’s public sector to accelerate innovation through procurement, data and testing. The plan for this is in backing our businesses.
Learn more about the growth sectors
Frontier innovation
Discover London’s next superpower in life sciences, AI, green innovation and more.
Financial, professional and business
Learn how we will drive growth across finance, law, consulting, built environment, IT, cyber and more.
Creative industries and technologies
Find out how we will grow our creative industries clusters for film, TV, gaming, music and more across London.
International education
Explore how London’s international students feed our talent pipeline and why it’s a productive export sector for London.
Sources:
65. Tripadvisor (2025). Travellers’ Choice Awards.