The British Museum has retained its title for a second year as the UK’s busiest visitor attraction, but visitor numbers to attractions are still down on pre-pandemic levels, according to new research.
The Museum, which is dedicated to human history, art and culture, saw 6.5 million visits in 2024, up 11% from 2023.
According to trade body the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva), major tourist attractions saw a 3.4% increase in visits last year but face challenges from rises in the cost of doing business,.
There were 157.2 million visits to 400 of the most popular UK venues in 2024.
That is up from 151.2 million during the previous year but remains 8.8% below the pre-coronavirus figure of 169.7 million in 2019.
The second most-visited attraction was the Natural History Museum in west London, which had its best year for visits at 6.3 million.
In third place was Windsor Great Park, Berkshire, with 5.7 million visits.
The most popular attraction in Scotland was Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland (2.3 million visits) while the number one spot in Wales was taken by St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff (600,000 visits).
Titanic Belfast had the most visits out of Northern Ireland’s attractions, with nearly 900,000.
Bernard Donoghue, Alva director, said attractions will suffer from increased employer national insurance contributions (Nics) and the minimum wage.
He told the PA news agency: “The Government should be fully aware that these unplanned, unanticipated and unbudgeted costs are really taking a hit on the cultural sector, whose profits or surpluses were already incredibly lean.
“For many Alva members, this next financial year would have been the first after the pandemic that they come properly into surplus.
“But for many organisations the national insurance changes have wiped out their projected surpluses, wiped out their investment plans.”
He added: “For some, these costs will result in cuts and job losses.”
Mr Donoghue said consumers are “still being quite cautious about their leisure spending”, but are “prioritising” days out with family and friends, and keeping up memberships of visitor attraction organisations.
He also said attractions in the cultural and heritage sector are suffering in particular from the failure of inbound tourism numbers to recover to pre-pandemic levels, largely because of the slow return of Chinese visitors.
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