On the streets, ordinary tourists, visiting the sites amid the British capital's biggest police operation since World War II, concede that the July 7 attacks have made them think.

From Buckingham Palace to Madame Tussaud's, the deadly bombings led to a sharp dip in visitor numbers at the start of the busy summer high season, and things were not helped by attempted copycat attacks two weeks later on July 21.

Shopkeepers also lamented a slump in sales after the initial blasts which killed 56 people on three subway trains and a bus. But tourism industry officials say that the last week or so has brought encouraging news as the city has remained calm, even though police stress that a further attack cannot be ruled out.

"Certainly the initial reaction... has been pretty encouraging, more so than you might have expected," said Ken Kelling, spokesman for Visit London, the official tourist body for the capital.

But he added: "It still is relatively early days. It's the next few months that's going to be the key."

"We don't let those people stop us"
Tourists enjoying the city's sites last weekend all said that the terror threat — underlined by a new al-Qaeda video last week warning of "more destruction" in London — would not stop them from visiting the city.

"We don't let those people stop us. If you do that then they win," said Jim Laudari (48) from Rochester, New York, visiting St Paul's Cathedral with his family.

"September 11 (2001) didn't stop me travelling to New York, and the same goes for London," said South African tourist Richard Bartholomew, from Cape Town, waiting to get on an open-top guided bus tour.

But others admit that the threat was factored in to their travel plans.

"We decided to come on Saturday rather than during the week, because they seem to be trying to kill as many people as possible, and that's more likely when people are going to work," said Keiko Nogami (24) from Tokyo.

Among the most high-profile relatively new sites on the London landscape is the London Eye, the huge big wheel which stands just across the River Thames from the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

A spokesperson there, Kirsty Bowles, said that visitor numbers slumped by 20-25 percent after July 7, and have only really started to pick up again over the last week.

"It's affecting the whole industry, we're not alone in this," she told AFP, adding: "It's too early for us to tell in terms of long terms effect."

£3-billion at stake
London tourism brings in some £15-billion annually, around 10 percent of the city's GDP, and economists have warned the atrocities could slice up to £3-billion pounds off of that.

Experts underline that, in terms of tourist confidence, the July 21 near-attacks were in fact worse than the initial deadly bombings.

"Although there was a lot of talk about resilience after the first attack, the impact of the second event obviously puts extra doubt in people's minds," Kelling said.

"Getting back to normal levels after the 21st is naturally going to take a longer time, and certainly those attractions that depend particularly on a family audience will find... that there are some understandable anxieties."

Metropolitan Police chief Ian Blair has warned that another attack is "likely," albeit not certain. Tourist bosses say the impact of any further atrocity "would depend on what sort of incident and what happened."

"But it would be foolish to say that it wouldn't have an effect," said Kelling.

AFP