England attraction visitation growth slows
Visitation to attractions across England remains relatively sluggish with numbers still below pre pandemic levels.
VisitEngland published its 2024 Annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions showing a small rise in 2024 visits compared to 2023, but well down on 2019 levels.
Overall, visits to attractions in England were up just 1.4% in 2024 compared to 2023.
When comparing to 2019, pre-pandemic, numbers were down 27%.
VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes said: “With growth to our visitor attractions slowing it’s now more important than ever that we show our support for this important sector and to communities across England.”
“As these survey results so clearly demonstrate, there remain challenges in getting our sector back to pre-pandemic levels and the cost-of-living impacts continue to bite.”
“England’s first-class attractions remain vitally important to our tourism offer to both international and domestic visitors.”
The survey, which gathered information from 1,373 English attractions, shows the growth was fuelled by overseas visitors.
International visits to England’s attractions overall were up 6% last year.
Domestic visits to attractions in 2024 meanwhile were down 1%.
Growth varied across the regions. Most regions saw a small increase in admissions.
London’s attractions led with growth of 5%, largely driven by international visitors.
Despite the increase the volume of attraction visits in London remains well below 2019 levels, down 18% overall.
Three regions meanwhile saw small declines in admissions with one region on par.
The Tower of London was in the top spot in 2024 as the most visited ‘paid for’ attraction in with 2.9 million visitors, up 4% on 2023.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was second with 2.3 million visitors, up 15% on 2023 and Chester Zoo third with 1.9 million.
The British Museum was the most visited ‘free’ attraction in England in 2024, with 6.5 million visitors, up 11% on 2023 and up 4% on 2019.
Second was the Natural History Museum with 5.9 million visitors, up 4% on 2023.
The third most visited free attraction in England in 2024 was the Tate Modern.
The highest levels of growth were seen in the ‘Farms’ attraction category, with an 11% increase in visits in 2024 compared to 2023.
‘Visitor/Heritage Centres’ saw the second largest increase, up 6% on the previous year.
‘Places of Worship’ also showed growth in visitor numbers last year, up 5% on 2023. ‘Historic Houses/Castles’ saw a 3% increase.
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