London’s West End is the theatre epicentre in the capital and attracts some of the world’s top talent and global crowds. Currently, the programme is as full and varied as it’s ever been, with Cynthia Erivo turning her hand to the stage in a one-woman version of Dracula after her lead role in the Wicked films, and Cabaret and Hamilton continuing to delight sell-out crowds. I myself, recently saw both an outstanding adaptation of Romeo & Juliet and a truly entertaining version of The Phantom of the Opera.
There are a few moments in the year where many others seem to also want to take in the enormous talent on show, often tourists or people who live outside London who are drawn in by the cobbled streets and vibrant energy of England’s theatre hub, and the four-day break over Easter weekend is one of them.
What has been striking this year is not just that people have come back, but how they have come back.
It is a delight to see that the West End is busy again, with audience numbers reaching 17.1 million last year – just shy of 2019 – and revenues surpassing £1 billion for the first time.
Following the pandemic, visitor numbers unsurprisingly plummeted, with more than a 70% decline across central London districts in 2020 and no real start to recovery until 2022. However, now, it is a delight to see that the West End is busy again, with audience numbers reaching 17.1 million last year – just shy of 2019 – and revenues surpassing £1 billion for the first time. And this is only expected to grow this year, with footfall predicted at around 20% above 2022-24 averages during peak periods. As tourism season begins in earnest in the western world, the West End is recovering with it.
That makes it a useful point of comparison for other theatre markets that have not returned in quite the same way. In New York, Broadway has brought in around $1.5bn over the past year, putting revenues close to where they stood before the pandemic, but audiences have not followed at the same pace, with attendance still nearer 12.3 million compared to almost 15 million in 2019. The shows are there and the theatres are open, but travel has played a key part in why Broadway hasn’t been able to match the West End’s level of success in recuperating audience numbers.
New York still depends heavily on long-haul travel, particularly from Asia, and that part of the market has returned unevenly, with capacity and confidence recovering in stages rather than all at once. London, by contrast, has been able to draw from a much closer catchment. Domestic audiences came back first, not just because they could, but because the journey is likely to be a train that’s no longer than couple of hours rather than a flight across states. But aside from that, international visitors have also returned to the UK in a way that they just haven’t in the US. Here at The MBS Group, we don’t tend to dwell on politics, but it is difficult to ignore the effect that Donald Trump’s second term has had on international travel to the US. Since his inauguration in early 2025, inbound visitor numbers have fallen by around four to six percent even as global tourism has grown in the same period. London, however, sits amongst a dense network of short-haul European travel, which has recovered more quickly and more consistently than intercontinental routes.
Global long-haul travel has also been less predictable, with more consumers booking later and frequent adjustments to routes and schedules from carriers. The escalation involving Iran has brought that into sharper focus, with airlines rerouting services across parts of the Middle East, extending journey times and increasing costs on key long-haul routes. That is beginning to feed into how people are booking, particularly for the summer period, where decisions are being made now rather than months ago.
Short-haul carriers have moved fastest, with Ryanair expecting to carry more than 200 million passengers this year and reporting strong demand across European routes, many of which now exceed pre-pandemic capacity. This fits with the sustained popularity of cultural hubs across Europe, with cities such as Paris, Barcelona and Rome reporting visitor numbers at or above pre-pandemic levels, driven largely by intra-European travel.
In France, international arrivals exceeded 100 million in 2024, making it the most visited country in the world once again, while Spain welcomed more than 85 million visitors, supported by strong summer bookings and sustained demand across its major cities.
The question for the summer season, then, is less about whether people will travel, and more about where they choose to go.
What that points to is not a drop in demand, but a change in where it goes. Trips that require more planning, higher spend and longer travel times are becoming harder to commit to, while destinations that sit within Europe’s short-haul network are easier to return to.
The question for the summer season, then, is less about whether people will travel, and more about where they choose to go. Cultural hubs that are easy to reach and familiar to visitors are likely to continue benefiting, particularly where they can draw from both domestic and regional audiences. Others, more reliant on long-haul flows or more exposed to disrupted routes, may find that demand arrives later or in less predictable volumes.
It is a real joy to see some of the world’s most treasured destinations begin to reach the heights of pre-Covid, with many supporting both the arts and the surrounding businesses. I, for one, cannot wait to revisit the West End again soon, and to feel the buzz of optimism and magic that exists in these special places.
