Most regions saw admissions grow between 4-8 pc with London the exception seeing growth of 26 pc largely driven by international visitors
VisitEngland survey shows slow growth in visitors with numbers remaining below 2019 level in England, despite overall visits to attractions continuing to increase.
While visits to attractions across England continued to recover last year, they were still significantly down on pre-pandemic levels.
In its Annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions 2023, VisitEngland, the national tourism agency, says that overall visits to attractions in England continued to increase and were up 11 pc in 2023 compared to 2022.
Andrew Stokes
International visitor arrivals to England’s attractions were up 80 pc last year compared to 2022.
The rate of growth slower than in the previous two years and with numbers down 28 pc on 2019.
“It is good to see continued growth in visits to our wonderful attractions and this survey underlines what we know from the industry, that there remains ground to be covered to get our sector back to pre-pandemic levels and that the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite,” says VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes.
“Our exceptional attractions remain vitally important to our tourism offer and it is no surprise that international and domestic tourists are returning to our first-class museums and galleries and our world-beating castles and historic houses,” he adds.
“With the summer holidays fast approaching I urge everyone to show your support, boost local economies through tourism and make magical memories in England’s high quality and varied attractions,” Stokes says.
Duncan Wilson
“These statistics give us a window into the challenges that many of England’s attractions are still facing, but it’s encouraging to see that numbers of visits are slowly climbing. We know that visiting heritage attractions can do so much for our mental health and wellbeing, so we want to see visitor numbers continue to grow. Everyone deserves to access, and learn from, the places and spaces which helped to shape who we are,” says Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive, Historic England.
The survey, which gathered information from 1,513 English attractions, shows that growth was fuelled by the return of overseas visitors and an increase in school trips in 2023.
Most regions saw admissions grow between 4-8 pc with London the exception seeing growth of 26 pc largely driven by international visitors. Despite the high percentage increase the volume of attraction visits in London remains well below 2019 levels, at 22 pc down.
The Tower of London was again in the top spot last year as the most visited ‘paid for’ attraction in England, with 2.8 million visitors, up 38 pc on 2022, although down 6 pc on 2019. Kew Gardens also retained second place with 2 million visitors, up 1 pc on 2022 and Chester Zoo came in third with 1.9 million, up 6 pc on 2022.
The British Museum also regained poll position in the list of ‘free attractions’ in England in 2023, with 5.8 million visitors, up 42 pc on 2022 although still down 7 pc on 2019.
Second was the Natural History Museum with 5.7 million visitors, up 18 pc on 2022. The third most visited free attraction in England in 2023 was the Tate Modern with 4.7 million visitors, up 22 pc on 2022.
The highest levels of growth were seen in the ‘Museum/Art Galleries’ category, which had suffered one of the sharpest declines in visitors because of the pandemic, with a 20 pc increase in visits in 2023 compared to 2022.
‘Places of Worship’ saw the second largest increase, up 19 pc on the previous year, and ‘Visitor/Heritage Centres’ showed recovery in visitor numbers last year, up 14 pc on 2022. ‘Historic Houses/Castles’ also saw good growth with a 13 pc increase in 2023 on the previous year.
The statement adds that tourism is one of England’s largest, most valuable industries, supporting over 200,000 businesses and employing about 2.6 million people.
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