London: More people visited just two top London attractions in 2015 than those that took in the entire city of Barcelona, tourist bosses have claimed, as the industry in the UK — and the capital in particular — booms.
The British Museum was last week named Britain’s most-visited tourist attraction for the ninth successive year, with more than 6.8 million people taking in the world-famous London institution — an average of 18,893 per day and up about 2 per cent on 2014.
In second place was the National Gallery with 5.9 million visitors, and Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) director Bernard Donoghue boasted: “More people visited the British Museum and the National Gallery, combined, than visited Barcelona. More people visited the Southbank Centre, Tate Modern and Tate Britain than visited Hong Kong. And more people visited the V & A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum than visited Venice.”
124.4m visitors in 2015
In total, the ALVA’s top 230 sites welcomed 124.4 million visitors in 2015 — an annual rise of 3.2 per cent — with all of the top 10 most-visited attractions in London, which saw a 1.6 per cent increase to 65.2 million visits. The Library of Birmingham was the highest-ranked outside the capital in 11th place with 1.8 million visitors, closely followed by the newly expanded Chester Zoo in 12th with 1.7 million, while Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum of Scotland (1.5 million visitors each) made great improvements to break into the top 20.
In the top 10, perennially popular classics such as the British Museum, Natural History Museum and the Tower of London were joined by the Southbank Centre arts venue and Somerset House, which hosts a wide range of exhibitions, concerts and public programmes. The Royal Academy of Arts, which hosted a hugely popular exhibit by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, could only make it to 29th on the list, while world-famous prehistoric monument Stonehenge was 21st (1.3 million) and the Houses of Parliament a lowly 36th (929,000).
The record-breaking visitor numbers could have been even more impressive but for some prolonged wet weather and the fallout from November’s terrorist attacks in Paris, according to the ALVA’s Donoghue. “Anecdotally, our members told us that the poor weather had an effect, and our members in the South East did see a decrease during Operation Stack in Kent [when the Channel Tunnel was closed due to refugee activity] as well as following the Paris attacks,” he said.
But the overall picture is bright and this year could be even better for the UK’s tourist attractions.
“2015 [was] a record year mainly due to our members continuing to show how diverse the UK is to both domestic and overseas visitors,” Donoghue said. “The current weakness of the pound to the dollar and Euro is making the UK a more affordable destination and 2016 is on target to be another memorable year.”
The UK’s most visited tourist attractions in 2015
1 — The British Museum — 6,820,686
The Bloomsbury-based institution, which first opened to the public in 1759, boasts a treasure trove of culturally important artefacts from all over the world — most notably the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon (or Elgin) Marbles.
2 — The National Gallery — 5,908,254
The art history museum at Trafalgar Square houses significant works by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh and J.M.W. Turner, but it suffered an 8 per cent drop in visitors in 2015.
3 — Natural History Museum — 5,284,023
This iconic South Kensington attraction remains a favourite thanks to exhibits such as the 32-metre-long replica diplodocus skeleton in the vast central hall and the skeleton and life-size model of a blue whale in the Large Mammals Hall.
4 — Southbank Centre — 5,102,883
Europe’s largest centre for the arts is a complex of performance venues and an art gallery situated on the bank of the Thames in the heart of London. Officials blamed an 18 per cent fall in visitor numbers in 2015 on the closure for refurbishment of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery from September onwards.
5 — Tate Modern — 4,712,581
Southwark’s Tate Modern may be ‘the world’s most popular gallery of modern and contemporary art’, but the number of people through its doors fell by a fifth in 2015 as it failed to repeat the popularity of its 2014 Henri Matisse exhibit. A new extension is to open this summer.
6 — Victoria and Albert Museum — 3,432,325
A record-breaking exhibition of the work of British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, which attracted 493,000 visitors during its 21-week run, helped the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design to sixth place on the ALVA list for 2015.
7 — Science Museum — 3,356,212
The Science Museum is a favourite for family days out thanks to its hundreds of interactive exhibits. Last year’s success was helped by an exhibition on Russia’s cosmonauts and the ‘Birth of the space age’, which opened in September.
8 — Somerset House — 3,235,104
The major success story of the top 10, Somerset House saw its visitor numbers rise by almost a third thanks to the popularity of its temporary exhibitions and public programmes, which included visitors watching musician PJ Harvey record her latest album.
9 — Tower of London — 2,785,249
The castle, palace and former prison-turned-tourist trap continues to enchant visitors thanks to its near 1,000 years of history at the heart of London and the British royal family.
10 — National Portrait Gallery — 2,145,486
The world’s first portrait gallery on its opening in 1856 was helped on its way to a successful 2015 by an exhibition on Audrey Hepburn, called ‘Portraits of an Icon’.
Big numbers
124.4m - total number of visits to UK’s top 230 sites in 2015, up 3.2% on 2014
8m - approximate number of objects housed in the British Museum
-The writer is a freelance journalist based in the UK
