London has beaten off Paris to claim the title of most popular city with foreign tourists in the world, with the latest figures showing that a stellar 2013 propelled it to the number one spot.

According to data released last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the UK's capital attracted 16.8 million visitors in 2013, with their combined spending topping £11.2bn.

The amount spent by overseas visitors to London has almost doubled in the past decade, driven by significant growth in the booming Asian, South American and Middle Eastern travel markets.

Paris was previously the most visited city in the world, but the 15.7 million trips it hosted in 2012 (the most recently published data) have now been eclipsed by this latest boost for British tourism.

2013 had already marked a record year for the UK overall, with 32.9 million overseas visitors reaching British shores, according to ONS figures released in February.

“Every single nation across Britain has seen an uplift in visitor numbers and, even more importantly, there have been substantial increases in spending for one of Britain’s largest export industries,” said Christopher Rodrigues, VisitBritain chair.

“ These strong results underpin the forecast that inbound tourism will continue to grow by over six per cent a year across the rest of this decade, making a significant contribution to the UK’s balance of payments and continuing to offer rapidly growing employment opportunities.”