The National Gallery, Southbank Centre, and Tate Modern – which make up three of the nation’s five most popular galleries and museums – all posted significant drops in tourist visits during 2015, according to figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva).
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The majority of attractions in the top 10 saw a decrease in visitor numbers with only the British Museum (first), Victoria and Albert Museum (sixth), Somerset House (eighth) and National Portrait Gallery (tenth) seeing a rise in footfall.
Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Botanic Garden in the Capital, the city’s Scottish National Gallery, the Kelvingrove and Riverside museums in Glasgow and the Falkirk Wheel were among the best performers north of the Border, said the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.
The British Museum maintained its position as the most popular tourist attraction with 6.8 million visitors.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, last week boasted that although he loved Belgium, more people visited the British Museum than the whole of the Continental European country.
“2015 continued to be a record year mainly due to our members continuing to show how diverse the United Kingdom is to both domestic and overseas visitors”, said Bernard Donoghue, ALVA’s director.
There was a 3.5 per cent increase in visits to gardens, and it was a record year for the Royal Horticultural Society, with an increase of 6.1 per cent to more than 1 million visitors to RHS Garden Wisley.
“We had more visitors to the British Museum alone than came to the whole of Belgium”, he said in response to questions from the public at his final People’s Question Time before London’s mayoral elections in May. More than 1,568,000 visitors visited the castle, an increase of 6 per cent.
The Library of Birmingham remained the most visited free attraction outside London.
This year’s tourism highlights include a number of events to mark the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, the unveiling of Land Of The Lions at ZSL London Zoo and Tate Britain hosting an exhibition devoted to David Hockney.
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It came in 11th place with 1.8 million visitors.
