Is London Pricing Itself out of Success?

Foreign tourist numbers in London have fallen over the past year, and I am not surprised. I´ll wager that this has little to do with perceptions of terrorist risks (though Gordon Brown´s latest plans for heightened security are enough to scare away residents, let alone visitors). No, our capital — which I dearly love — is increasingly being seen as the Great Rip-off Capital of Europe. New arrivals who innocently wander onto the Heathrow Express when they land are clobbered with a gob-smacking fare for their ride to Paddington. Both public transport and taxi costs are well above the EU average, and restaurants are exhorbitant. OK, a minority of people in London have a great deal of money, and don´t blanch at being asked to fork out 80 or 100 pounds for a meal for two with a half-way decent bottle of wine, but the bulk of the population is gradually being marginalised from many of the things that London has to offer, for simple economic reasons.

Over the past month, I´ve really been struck with the contrast with Germany, for example. Last month I was in Berlin for the ELDR Council and Congress, and now I am in Hamburg for the Liberal International Executive and Congress. The prices for transport, hotels and restaurants are way below those in London, and there isn´t the over-crowding and widespread anti-social behaviour we have sadly had to inure ourselves to in London. And not for the first time, I appreciate how a country like Germany has avoided over-centralisation of its services and facilities in one city — something in which Britain still lags far behind.