Believe it or not, it's a rise of 19.5% on the Olympic summer of 2012.

Phil Noble / Reuters
There were a couple of big events that helped attract people to the capital...

Stefan Wermuth / Reuters / Reuters

Cathal Mcnaughton/Reuters
But that's not the only reason. There was a 17% rise in visitors to these places.

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(L-R - Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, The National Gallery).
Events like David Bowie Is at the V&A and Life and Death in Pompeii at the British Museum helped boost the visitor numbers to 12.8 million for the first nine months of 2013.

Dan Kitwood / Getty

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty
When the final numbers are totted up, London should hit 16 million visitors for 2013, which would make it the most visited city in the world, ahead of these:

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(L-R: Paris, New York).
With so many fascinating museums, the best theatre scene in the world, more green space than any other European city, numerous top sporting venues, a low crime rate and much else besides, it is no wonder that people from all over the globe are flocking to London in record numbers. These incredible figures prove that London is without doubt the greatest city on the planet.