Visitor numbers down overall, as South West sites still remain popular
Trade body Alva has been crunching the numbers of visitor data
The number of visits to UK tourist attractions are still below pre-pandemic levels.
146 million people went to major venues last year - down from 164 million in 2019.
It was a 19 per cent increase though on 2022 levels.
Trade body, Alva, says it shows many people are still "out of the habit" of paying a visit.
Indoor attractions saw a 23% increase in visitors compared to a 2% increase in Outdoor attractions.
The most-visited attraction in the UK was the British Museum which saw 5,820,860 visits – a 42% increase on 2022 numbers which they attributed in part to the success of the China’s hidden century exhibition that ran from May to October. The last time that the museum was the most visited attraction was in 2019 and in 2022, it was the 3rd most visited attraction.
The list of sites can be found here and shows in our region Stonehenge was top, followed by The Pump Rooms in Bath - and others in the list included Longleat, St Michael's Mount , The Eden project and various National Trust sites along with The Fleet Air Arm museum, WWT Slimbridge and Brunel's SS Great Britain.
The report notes: "Forestry England has launched 26 children’s trails celebrating the Gruffalo’s 25th birthday in the nation’s forests including Delamere Forest, Moors Vallery Country Park and Haldon Forest, which all featured in the top 100 attractions."
Outside London, other English attractions that performed well were RHS Garden Wisley in 21st place, followed by two in the South West. Stonehenge saw a 36% increase with 1,327,423 visitors (23rd place) and six places below was Roman Baths and Pump Room with 1,061,240 visitors and a 25% increase.
The report noted: "Forestry England has launched 26 children’s trails celebrating the Gruffalo’s 25th birthday in the nation’s forests including Delamere Forest, Moors Vallery Country Park and Haldon Forest, which all featured in the top 100 attractions."
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.”