London tourist prices that have shot up the fastest

Can you imagine paying only 10p to visit the Tower of London or 75p to visit Madame Tussauds? Well, these were the prices charged in the 70s, but now tourists are paying up to 3,000% more for the same attractions.

London tourist attractions have emerged as the biggest holiday price hike of the last 50 years, according to Which? In 1974, entry to the Tower of London was just 10p – the equivalent of 90p in today’s money. Visit this year however and you’d pay a whopping £34.80 per adult, an increase of 3,767%.

While entry to Madame Tussauds was once just 75p, or £7 in today’s money, a ticket now costs £33 if purchased in advance – rising to as much as £42 if purchased on the day, an increase of 500% based on the on the day price.

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A ticket to Kew Gardens meanwhile was just 1p (9p in today’s money) in 1974. Now prices range from between £12 and £24 per adult depending on whether you visit in summer or winter, and whether you book in advance, an increase of 26,566%, based on the most expensive ticket.

London Zoo, which was once just 80p to enter (£7.20 in today’s money), costs £27 per head during off-peak periods, and up to £33 at weekends, an increase of 358% based on the weekend ticket.

“The cost of a day out in particular has risen by astronomical amounts – with many of London’s most popular attractions charging entry fees that have far outpaced inflation and beyond the means of many people,” according to Which? Travel editor Rory Boland.

“There are still plenty of ways to keep costs down though – from shopping around and using comparison sites when booking a flight, to checking for online vouchers and schemes for cheaper attraction tickets,” he added.

Package holiday prices are also rising, with analysis by the consumer body finding that the average price of just a single week half-board in Spain this August would cost £995 per person – comparable to a two week break in the 90s.

A week in Italy half-board would be £1,120 each, and in Greece it would be £1,257 each.

In 1986 Which? reported that a week’s package on the Costa Blanca during the summer would cost £160, the equivalent of £456 at today’s prices.

By 1991, a package, including two weeks half-board at an average hotel in the summer cost £450 per person in Spain (£986 at today’s prices), £507 per person in Italy (equivalent to £1,110 in today’s money), and £517 per person in Greece (equivalent to £1,132).

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And what about flying? If getting on a plane in the 70s was a costly experience amid an oil crisis and double-digit inflation, we have not seen a return to the golden era of the 90s where plane tickets were cheap.

The average return flight from the UK to Europe cost just £123 in summer 2010 (£181 in today’s money), but had risen by 78% to £322 on average in 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics.

“For decade after decade travel and holidays became cheaper and therefore accessible to more people, so it’s worrying to uncover a recent trend of prices increasing, often significantly so. A golden age of affordable flights witnessed in the 90s and early 2000s looks like it may now be a thing of the past,” Boland said.

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