VisitBritain and VisitEngland have released the results of their Annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions. The results show that 11 of the top 20 paid visitor attractions were in London in 2017, 10 of which were UKinbound members.
Despite London-based visitor attractions securing 11 places in the top 20 paid visitor attractions, visits to London decreased for the third consecutive year, falling by 2% in 2017. The North West and West Midlands also saw declines of 1% in visitor admissions, whilst all other regions’ visitor admissions increased.
Yorkshire and the Humber experienced the largest increase in visits at 7%. Attractions in Southern England also fared well, with a 4% increase in aggregate visitor admissions in the South East and a 5% increase in the South West.
The majority of attraction types that saw a decrease in 2016 reported improved performance in 2017. Historic attractions saw the largest increase in popularity, up 8% in 2017 after a 1% decline in 2016. Similarly, heritage centres and places of worship both saw visit numbers grow by 4% in 2017, following declines of 2% and 8% respectively in 2016. However, visitor admissions to leisure and theme parks decreased by 1%, as did art galleries, heritage railways and zoos.
The Tower of London was the most visited paid attraction with 2.8 million visitors in 2017, followed by Chester Zoo with 1.8 million and Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo with 1.7 million. For free attractions, British Museum topped the list with 5.9 million visitors, followed by Tate Modern with 5.6 million, and National Gallery with 5.2 million visitors.
The full report can be viewed here.
