The British Museum was again the most popular visitor attraction in the UK in 2016 for the 10th year running. The figures published annually by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) has shown that even though numbers at some of London’s most popular tourist attractions fell last year over fears the city “might be next” for a terror attack some attractions were way up.
“London continues to welcome record numbers of international visitors” – Visit London
A million more people visited Tate Modern in 2016 compared with the previous year. More than 5.8 million people visited the museum in 2016, an increase of 24%, making it the third most visited attraction in the UK.m.Tate Modern’s new 10-storey extension, the Switch House, which opened in June accounted for the increase. The British Museum had more than 6.4 million visits – but that was a 5.9% drop on the previous year. The Natural History Museum and the V&A, both suffered a drop of 12%. In the case of the V&A this is accounted for by the popularity of the “David Bowie Is” exhibition which was the museum’s most visited exhibition in its history. The overall visitor numbers for London attractions last year were level. The Royal Academy credited its 17 percent increase to 1.3 million visitors to several exhibitions including Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse last spring.The combination of Tate Modern and the RA accounts for a 1.3m increase in museum visits.
A spokesman for VisitLondon said: “London continues to welcome record numbers of international visitors drawn by the capital’s world-renowned landmarks, culture and heritage. “London’s visitor attractions recorded almost 67 million visits last year, almost half of the entire UK total, emphasising the importance of the capital to UK tourism.” London’s bustling tourism sector could come under strain following the deadly terrorist attack in the heart of the city last week but we are going to keep optimistic.
Top 10 UK Attractions:
1. British Museum 6,420,395
2. National Gallery 6,262,839
4. Natural History Museum 4,624,113
5. Southbank Centre 3,909,376
6. Somerset House 3,443,220
7. Science Museum 3,245,750
8. Victoria and Albert Museum 3,022,086
9. Tower of London 2,741,126
10. Royal Museums Greenwich 2,451,023
Photo: © P C Robinson all rights reserved