The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) has announced that visitor numbers at the UK’s most popular attractions increased by 19% in 2023, according to the latest figures from its members.
In 2023, there were 146.6 million visitors to ALVA sites overall, up 19% from the previous year (123.6 million). However, this is still down 11% from the 163.9 million visits to the top 374 ALVA sites in 2019. Visits to indoor attractions increased by 23%, while those to outdoor attractions increased by 2%.
The British Museum (pictured, top) was the UK’s most visited destination, with 5,820,860 visits, a 42% increase from 2022. This increase was attributed to the China’s hidden century exhibition, which ran from May to October. The museum last topped the list in 2019 and was third in 2022.
Wales saw a 25% increase in visitor numbers thanks to National Museum Wales joining ALVA last year. London rose 24%, Scotland and Northern Ireland rose 21%. Eastern England saw the most significant year-on-year rise outside London at 11%, followed by the West Midlands at 10%.
Most visited attractions in London
The second most visited attraction was the Natural History Museum, which had its best-ever year for visits and saw a 22% increase in visitors to 5,688,786. Meanwhile, Windsor Great Park was the most visited outdoor attraction, with 5,487,856 visitors. This was a 3% decline on 2022 figures.
In fourth place was Tate Modern, with 4,742,038 visits, which was also a 22% increase, while the Southbank Centre remained in fifth place, with an 8% increase to 3,193,966 visitors. Young V&A reopened on 1 July and has since welcomed 405,000 people. The recently renovated National Portrait Gallery in London received 1,164,018 visits, ranking 27th, despite only being open for half the year starting on 22 June 2023.
The Royal Albert Hall rebounded to nearly pre-pandemic numbers of 1,605,924, despite holding 12 fewer events in 2023 than in 2019. The Guildhall Art Gallery saw the biggest percentage rise in London, rising 137% to 110,211 after jumping 43 places up the table.
Westminster Abbey saw a 49% increase in worshippers and visitors to 1,587,866 in the Coronation year. Windsor Castle saw a 66% increase to 1,374,607 visits (20th place), and Buckingham Palace saw a 75% increase in visitors to 501,499 during its summer opening from 14 July to 24 September (76th place).
Visitor attractions booming in Scotland, Northern Ireland & Wales
The National Museum of Scotland remained Scotland’s most popular free attraction, seeing an 11% rise in visitors to 2,186,841. Edinburgh Castle, Scotland’s most popular paid attraction, had 1,904,723 visits, a 41% increase from the previous year. National Galleries Scotland saw a 44% increase to 1,836,057, a record-breaking year ascribed to the launch of the new Scottish galleries and the Grayson Perry exhibition.
With a 32% increase to 1,283,882, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum moved up to 25th place; Riverside Museum, with 1,265,011, was one spot below. With 1,041,391 visitors, the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh enjoyed a 4% gain in popularity as Scotland’s top outdoor attraction. With 510,936 views, the Gallery of Modern Art jumped 40 spots to 70th place. It attributed this achievement to the success of Banksy’s 10-week-long show, Cut and Run. Glasgow Cathedral witnessed a 79% increase in visitors, totalling 457,541, and increased 50 spots.
Both Stirling Castle and Urquhart Castle had year-over-year increases in visitor counts of +24%, with 517,299 visits to Stirling Castle and 442,761 visits to Urquhart Castle.
Titanic Belfast remained the most popular destination in Northern Ireland. Thanks to the positive feedback from its gallery refreshment in January and February 2023, it saw a 28% rise in visitors in 2023, making it its most successful year since 2012. With 800,949 visitors, it was ranked 43rd. Carrick-a-Rede witnessed an 83% increase to 171,031 and moved 27 positions, while Giants Causeway experienced a 57% increase and moved 23 places to 54th with 662,806 attendees.
St. Fagans National Museum of History was the most popular destination in Wales, receiving 594,990 visits, a 23% rise, and ranking 61st overall. The National Museum Cardiff, which rose 41% to 378,349 visits (108th place), came next.
Other highlights
Other English sites that fared well outside of London were RHS Garden Wisley, which came in at number 21. With 1,327,423 tourists, Stonehenge had a 36% rise, ranking 23rd. Bath’s Roman Baths and Pump Room was six spots below, with 1,061,240 visitors and a 25% increase.
The National Railway Museum saw a 10% increase, attributed to Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery, an interactive gallery for families that opened in July 2023. Burghley House moved 26 places and saw an 86% increase in visitors to 154,827 after introducing an adventure playground.
From February 2023 onward, attractions that provided significantly reduced admission prices to Universal Credit holders included ZSL London Zoo, which experienced a 27% rise in attendance to 1,327,902, and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, which saw an 18% increase to 893,450. English Heritage collaborated with foodbanks throughout the year to provide visitors free access to the charity’s locations.
Additional attractions that provide discounted tickets are the Tower of London (Historic Royal Palaces), Portsmouth Historic Dockyard (which provided over 10,000 Ultimate Explorer tickets to families with children eligible for free school meals), London Transport Museum, Kew Gardens, and The King’s Galleries in London and Edinburgh.
Bernard Donoghue OBE, director of ALVA, commented: “Our members are not yet back to hosting the same number of visitors that they did in 2019, but they are really delighted that even in a challenging cost-of-living climate visitors are still prioritising spending special time with special people at special places.”
“Whilst the extension of tax relief for museums, theatres and galleries was a very welcome announcement in the recent Budget, there was a missed opportunity to reintroduce tax free shopping for overseas visitors, which would have improved the UK’s international competitiveness, and reduce VAT for tourism and hospitality which would have helped businesses repair their balance sheets.”
More to come in 2024
The Queen’s House has reopened with works from the Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) fine art collection, and Beamish’s Remaking Beamish project will include a Georgian tavern and pottery, a 1950s cinema, toy shop, electrical shop, record shop, STEM learning space, and Georgian-style self-catering accommodation.
The oldest mansion in Glasgow, Provand’s Lordship, will reopen on 29 March following £1.6 million in renovations and improvements that began in the summer of 2022. Part of the Cathedral Precinct, it will be significant for Glasgow’s 850th-anniversary celebrations in 2025. Locomotion in Shildon is preparing to open New Hall (and return to a 7-day-a-week opening) in May 2024, creating Europe’s largest exhibition of heritage rail vehicles under cover.
The National Gallery of Scotland, Ashmolean Museum Oxford, Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, and Ulster Museum Belfast will borrow 12 of the UK’s most famous paintings to celebrate the National Gallery’s 200th anniversary on 10 May. For the 80th anniversary of D-Day, RAF Museum London will host a weekend of live music and entertainment in June.
Yoko Ono Music of the Mind is on at the Tate Modern until 1 September, Untold Lives at Kensington Palace will reveal the forgotten stories of those who worked at the royal palaces over 300 years ago until 27 October, and When Forms Come Alive at the Hayward Gallery will run until 6 May 2024, followed by Tavares Strachan’s landmark show on 18 June.
Naomi Campbell’s career will be explored in NAOMI: In Fashion at the V&A South Kensington from 22 June, and Barbie: The Exhibition will be at the Design Museum from 5 July. This presents the design evolution of one of the world’s best-known dolls. Michelangelo the last decades opens at the British Museum on 2 May, and Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre will launch at the Natural History Museum on 24 May. The Old Royal Naval College launches Chocolate House Greenwich, a fascinating new exhibition on how chocolate revived 18th-century Greenwich, on 29 March.
Elsewhere, Art of the Selfie is open at the National Museum Cardiff and will continue until January 2025, while Blenheim Palace opens its largest exhibition in 300 years from 23 March to 30 June. World-class designers will take over significant Palace rooms in Icons of British Fashion. Happiness!, the first major exhibition on a comedian in a national museum, celebrates one of the UK’s most beloved and influential comedians, Sir Ken Dodd. This continues at the Museum of Liverpool for four months, closing on 7 July.
Game on, the largest interactive exhibition of video game history and culture, will be at the National Museum of Scotland from 29 June, and Discovering Degas will be hosted at The Burrell Collection, Glasgow, from 24 May. For the first time, Sir William Burrell’s complete collection of prized Edgar Degas works will be showcased alongside around 50 other world-class works on loan from national and international collections.
Paris 1924: Sport, Art and the Body will open at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum on 19 July. Starting on 26 March, Brunel’s SS Great Britain’s top deck will feature Wardian Cases as new permanent exhibits. For the first time, these Victorian sea-going terrariums will feature real orchids, ferns, fruit trees, and more to tell the narrative of Victorian trans-continental plant movements.
The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust’s 2024 temporary exhibition, From Stars to Cells: The Life of Iron, opens on 24 April at Coalbrookdale Gallery at Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron. Blists Hill Victorian Town will recreate the Victorian seaside with its Victorian Seaside Experience this summer.
Bluey, Bingo, and the gang take over Wakehurst in Sussex (27 March–14 April) and Kew Gardens (29 March–14 April), while a new free Stick Man outdoor route will open in Staffordshire’s National Memorial Arboretum in the National Forest on 23 March. Forestry England established 26 children’s trails to celebrate the Gruffalo’s 25th birthday in Delamere Forest, Moors Vallery Country Park, and Haldon Forest, all top 100 attractions. Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum’s explosive success Operation Ouch! Food, Poo and You runs until 9 June.
Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography, a summer exhibition at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, will trace royal portrait photography from the 1920s to the present and uncover the story behind some of the most famous Royal Family photos. From November, Drawing the Italian Renaissance will showcase the diversity and success of drawing in Italy throughout this revolutionary period through works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian.
Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians will be the first exhibition at The King’s Gallery in Edinburgh after its 18-month maintenance closure, after a successful run in London.
