London attractions draw 65 million visits as capital dominates UK market
The top 10 most-visited attractions in the UK are all based in London, according to new figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), with the British Museum topping the chart as the most popular visitor attraction in Britain for the ninth consecutive year.
With many urging for the cultural disparity between the capital and the rest of the UK to be addressed, London showed why it receives roughly four times the amount of per capita funding compared to the rest of Britain, drawing more than 65 million people to its visitor attractions in 2015.
Welcoming 6,820,686 visitors last year, the British Museum remains the most popular attraction in the UK, while the National Gallery retained second place spot, drawing 5,908,254 people. The Natural History Museum jumped up two places from 5th in 2014, welcoming 5,284,023 as the UK’s third-most-visited attraction.
Outside the capital, Birmingham’s redeveloped library was the most visited in the UK, with 1,828,999 passing through its doors. Following its £40m Islands expansion and favourable coverage on a BBC drama series in late 2014, Chester Zoo was number 12 on the list, with an 18 per cent increase in visitor numbers year-on-year.
Temporary exhibitions played a strong part in 2015, with the largest increase in visitor numbers in the top 10 being Somerset House, which saw a 31 per cent jump up to 3,235,104, largely credited to a series of temporary exhibitions and public programmes. The Royal Academy of Arts climbed six places in this year’s results, breaking the million visitor barrier thanks in large part to its Ai Weiwei and Summer exhibitions. The V&A’s Alexander McQueen exhibition, which closed last August, was the UK’s most popular temporary exhibition, with 493,043 people seeing it in total during its 21-week run.
Normally dominant in the heritage sector, Edinburgh Castle shone in 2015, becoming the most visited attraction in Scotland, with 1,568,508 people coming to the historic site, overtaking National Museum Scotland for the first time in five years, which followed narrowly in second place with 1,567,310 visitors.
Things aren’t looking as rosy for all of the UK’s visitor attractions however, with the Tate Modern recording its lowest attendance figures for a decade. Finishing fifth on the list with 4,712,581 visitors, the numbers were down 19 per cent – a drop of close to a million people in 2014 when 5,785,427 came to the gallery.
“2015 continued to be a record year mainly due to our members continuing to show how diverse the UK is to both domestic and overseas visitors. However, anecdotally, our members told us that the poor weather had an affect, and our members in the South East did see a decrease during Operation Stack in Kent as well as following the Paris attacks,” said Bernard Donoghue, director of ALVA.
“The current weakness of the pound to the dollar and euro is making the UK a more affordable destination and 2016 is on target to be another memorable year for ALVA’s members.”
To see the full list of figures, click here.
ALVA Visitor attractions UK London Culture Heritage Museum Museum of London British Museum TATE Edinburgh Castle Chester ZooALVA to deliver visitor attractions masterclasses in Northern Ireland
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