One in five visitors to the Games is expected to come from the US (Image London 2012 Olympics)

The United States will be the single biggest source nation for traffic to next month’s London Olympics, accounting for more than twice as many visitors as any other market, a recent study based on global air reservations has found.

The survey, conducted by travel technology provider Amadeus and market research company Forward Data SL, revealed that the US would account for 19 per cent of total anticipated arrivals for the Games, with the next largest market, Germany, expected to contribute 8 per cent to arrivals.

While Europe and North America are forecast to drive traffic to London, accounting for 46 per cent and 23 per cent of arrival numbers respectively, Asia (9 per cent) has seen the most significant rise in 2012 bookings for the Games, with reservations growing by 27 per cent over 2011.

BRICS nations (Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa) are also emerging as important source markets for long-haul travel to the Olympics, according to the survey.

Now representing a 9 per cent share of total arrivals, BRICS countries have seen a 40 per cent upsurge in bookings compared to last year.

Fuelling the 12 per cent increase in expected traffic from the US to London during the Games is New York City, which has experienced a whopping 48 per cent year-on-year rise in bookings to the UK capital.

After NYC, the largest growing source market cities in the US are San Francisco (+29%), Washington (+18%) and Chicago (+13%), while Los Angeles has seen a surprising decrease (-3%) in expected traffic to London during the Games.