England’s Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) report for 2023 shows visits to tourism attractions are still 11pc below pre-pandemic levels, indicating that many people have not yet returned to the habit of visiting these venues.
Attractions are offering events and discounted tickets to encourage people to return, but issues such as anxiety over the virus and the cost-of-living crisis are affecting visitor numbers.
The limited return of Chinese tourists, the end of tax-free shopping for inbound visitors, and competition from other European cities are also impacting the recovery of English tourism hotspots.
- The British Museum, in central London, was once again England’s most popular tourist attraction with 5,820,860 visits, up 42pc from 2022, boosted by China’s Hidden Century exhibition, which ran from May until October.
- Natural History Museum, west London, was second with a best ever 5,688,786.
- Windsor Great Park, Berkshire was third with 5,487,856 visits.
- Tate Modern in London was fourth with 4,742,038 visits.
- Southbank Centre in London was fifth with 3,193,966 visits.
- The most popular attraction in Scotland was Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland (2,186,841 visits) followed by Edinburgh Castle with 1,904,723 and National Galleries Scotland with 1,836,057 visits.
- Wales leading attraction was St Fagan’s National Museum of History in Cardiff (594,990 visits).
