Visits to tourism attractions grew 3.4% last year but challenges remain

Major tourist attractions saw a 3.4% increase in visits last year but face challenges from rises in the cost of doing business, according to new research.

There were 157.2 million visits to 400 of the most popular UK venues in 2024, according to trade body the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva).

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.

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.

The British Museum in central London was the UK’s most popular tourist attraction for the second year in a row in 2024 with 6.5 million visits, up 11% from 2023.

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.