ALVA announces visitor numbers in 2024, Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, 21 March 2025
In 2024 visits to the UK’s most popular attractions saw a rise of 3.4% – The British Museum continues to be the most visited attraction.
The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) has released the visitor figures of its members for 2024 today (Friday, March 21, 2025) during English Tourism Week and Scottish Tourism Month. The total number of visits to 400 ALVA sites in 2024 was 157.2 million, which was a 3.4% increase on the previous year but still represented a decline of 8.8% on the 169.7 million visits in 2019 to the top 386 ALVA sites.
Mixed sites that are a combination of both indoor and outdoor elements saw the biggest increase of 2.4% in visitors compared to a 1% increase in Outdoor attractions. In addition, 193 sites highlighted that they welcomed at least 38.7 million visits in 2024 where the visitor was from overseas.
The most-visited attraction in the UK for the second year in a row was the British Museum which saw 6,479,952 visitors with an 11% increase on 2023 numbers, while in second place was Natural History Museum (South Kensington) – which also experienced an 11% increase in visitors to 6,301,972 and continuing to be in third place and the most visited outdoor attraction was Windsor Great Park (The Crown Estate) which welcomed 5,670,430 visitors following a 3% increase, which they attributed, in part, to their new Adventure Play area that encourages children and grown-ups to get out into nature and have outdoor fun, and which earlier this month won an outstanding achievement award at the Themed Entertainment Association Awards in Los Angeles. In 4th place was Tate Modern with 4,603,025 visits, while the Southbank Centre remained in 5th place with an 17% increase to 3,734,075 visitors.
The typical attraction in London saw a 3% increase and Scotland tied with Northern Ireland with a 3.2% increase. The region of England outside London with the biggest year-on-year growth was the East Midlands, which was up 4.5%, followed by Yorkshire & Humberside with 4.2%.
Notable percentage increases in London included the National Portrait Gallery which reopened in summer 2023 and moved up 9 places to 18th place, following a 36% increase with 1,578,065 visitors, while Young V&A welcomed 596,100 visitors and moved 35 places to 63rd – which resulted in an increase of 47% in its second year of reopening. Buckingham Palace (limited Summer Opening) moved up 18 places to 58th with 646,832 visitors following a record-breaking year, with the Palace welcoming the most visitors in the history of the Summer Opening, while UK Parliament saw a 196% increase and rose 112 places to 66th position after welcoming 560, 317 visitors.
Entertainment appeared to be a hook for visitors with the Royal Albert Hall seeing a 5% increase and welcoming 1,753,371 visitors – making it the highest generally paid-for venue in London. Following the success of Barbie: The Exhibition which was the Design Museum’s third most visited in its history, it continues to host the record-breaking Tim Burton exhibition – the most popular exhibition in the museum’s 35-year history; while the V&A South Kensington saw its busiest summer since 2018 – welcoming over 1 million visits between July-September, in part thanks to the hugely popular Taylor Swift Songbook trail.
In Scotland, the most-visited free attraction continued to be the National Museum of Scotland, which moved up one place to 11th and saw a 6% increase to 2,314,974 visitors followed by the National Galleries Scotland: National which had a record-breaking year and welcomed 1,999,196 and witnessed a 9% increase to 14th place. Edinburgh Castle continued to be the most visited paid for attraction in Scotland with a 4% increase in visitors to 1,981,152 (15th place).
The largest percentage increases in Scotland included Craigievar Castle (National Trust for Scotland), which re-opened after a period of closure due to repairs and saw a 285% increase: moving 21 places to 321st after welcoming 32,852 visitors, and after being mostly closed until August 2023 due to works, 39,692 visitors went to Caerlaverock Castle (Historic Environment Scotland) with a 114% increase – moving 13 places to 313th place.
In Northern Ireland, Titanic Belfast continued to be the most-visited attraction with a 10% increase to 881,573 visitors moving up 8 places to 35th place. Giants Causeway (National Trust) moved up 1 place to 53rd with 684, 146 visitors and Hillsborough Castle (Historic Royal Palaces) saw the largest percentage increase of 20% to 109,639 visitors.
In Wales, the most visited attraction was St. Fagan’s National Museum of History with 600,690 visits (62nd place). It was followed by the National Museum Cardiff with 373,382 visits (117th place), while the highest percentage increase was WWT Llanelli (Wildfowl and Wetland Trust) which saw 8% more visitors (61,705).
Outside London, the most popular English attraction, after Windsor Great Park was Stonehenge (English Heritage) which saw a 3% increase with 1,363,252 visitors (21st place), next was Windsor Castle in 23rd place with 1,336,015 visitors and five places below was RHS Garden Wisley which attracted 1,104,362 visitors (28th) followed closely by The Roman Baths and Pump Room with 1,075,143 visitors (29th).
Some of the largest percentage increases in England were the Museum of Liverpool who saw a 19% increase and moved 12 places to 41st with 829, 692 visitors; Pitt Rivers in Oxford with a 27% increase to 509,703 visitors and a move of 22 places to 80th; followed closely by The Fitzwilliam Museum, which had its busiest year on record, with a 25% increase to 506,428 visitors (81st place); while the Laing Art Gallery saw a 57% increase that moved it 43 places to 192,013 visitors and Lotherton (part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries) saw a 37% increase and moved to 168th place with 228,065 visitors. Castle Howard saw a 15% increase to 297,054 visits following their best year on record which they credited to a headline contemporary sculpture exhibition and a hugely popular Christmas offering. From the Science Museum Group; the National Railway Museum saw a 10% increase to 690,810 visitors, rising from 57th to 52nd position which was credited to the first full year of Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery – an interactive gallery for families – as well as World-famous locomotive Flying Scotsman being at the museum during the first half of 2024, which drew crowds of visitors; while Locomotion saw a 31% increase to 210th with 164,486 visits which was attributed to the opening of the New Hall in May 2024 – creating the largest collection of heritage rail vehicles under cover and on public display anywhere in Europe.
Beamish saw a 5% increase to 838,632 visits and was the most visited attraction in the North East, which they credited in part to the culmination of their Remaking Beamish project, the biggest capital development in the museum’s history, that included the opening of a 1950s cinema, toy shop, electrical shop and STEM learning space, aswell as developments in their 1820s landscape, such as the introduction of a Georgian tavern and pottery.
Bernard Donoghue OBE, Director of ALVA, commented: “For most visitor attractions 2024 was a year of steady but not significant growth. The long economic recovery from lock-down during COVID, the effects of the cost-of-living crisis on consumer spending, increasing business costs and modest inbound visitor numbers to the UK mean that 2024 was a financially changing year for visitor attractions. The increased National Insurance costs and the decrease in the Employer Allowance threshold, plus raising the rate of national minimum wage, have effectively wiped-out planned surpluses for many attractions or derailed their investment plans, and for some, these unbudgeted unanticipated costs will result in cuts and job losses.”
He added: “The recovery of visitor attractions and the broader cultural and heritage economies remains fragile, but visitors have shown that in their leisure spending they still prioritise day trips to loved attractions, they are keeping up their memberships of favourite organisations and they value spending special time with special people in special places.”
Looking forward, Anniversaries always attract attention, and the Royal Observatory Greenwich is celebrating its 350th anniversary and to coincide with its 130th birthday, the National Trust will display Luke Jerram’s newest sculpture, Helios, at locations in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. National Galleries Scotland: Portrait will be marking the 400th anniversary of King James VI and I’s death with an exhibition that starts on April 26 and runs until September 14. ZSL will be kicking off its countdown to its 200th anniversary on April 29, which marks one year to go, and Beamish is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year and will open their first overnight accommodation – self-catering cottages in their Georgian landscape in the spring.
Tate Modern, the world’s most popular museum of modern and contemporary art, will celebrate its 25th birthday in May. The gallery will host a long weekend of free live music, performances, talks, tours and activities, all inspired by its free collection displays. Marking 250 years of Jane Austen and JMW Turner, Harewood House will host ‘Austen and Turner: A Country House Encounter’ from May 2 which brings the artists together for the first time in a speculative meeting of minds to explore the social and cultural life of the British country house and its landscape. Turner’s Vision at the National Trust’s Petworth House and Park, West Sussex will open on June 21 and has been organised to mark the 250th anniversary of one of Britain’s most celebrated artists. This will be the first time in over 20 years that a wide range of JMW Turner’s studies of the Petworth landscape, on loan from the Tate, will be exhibited in the place that inspired him.
On May 6, some of the original ceramic poppies from 2014 will return to the Tower of London in a new commemorative display within the Tower’s walls to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Activity at Bletchley Park runs from May 4 to 11, and includes special events on May 8, a VE Day 80 exhibition and two weekends of commemorations – the first a celebratory 1940s weekend and the second: a Concert for Codebreakers. Meanwhile on May 10 – 11, RAF Museum Midlands will also be marking the end of the Second World War in Europe with VE Day celebrations that will feature live outdoor performances, bunting craft workshops contributing to a hangar installation, engaging lectures on wartime rationing and more!
The Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex, will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this summer. Virtual Beauty will begin at Somerset House on July 23, as part of its special 25th birthday programme which explores the impact of digital technologies on definitions of beauty today. Also in July, English Heritage will be unveiling a new art installation at Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden to mark the 450th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth I’s 19-day visit to the Warwickshire site. The immersive artwork by Lindsey Mendick will offer a new perspective on the queen’s relationship with her courtier and long-term suitor Robert Dudley.
The Natural History Museum (South Kensington)’s free-to-visit, brand new permanent gallery, Fixing Our Broken Planet, opens on April 3 – with an associated programme of events and activities throughout 2025 aimed at creating advocates for the planet and in time for Easter, The Roman Baths are introducing a new immersive Archaeology Adventures activity that will give children the chance to try their hand at digging for replica Roman artefacts in a special excavation trench and learn how to identify, record, and uncover hidden treasures—just like a real archaeologist. This hands-on experience will be available during school holidays throughout the year.
After a major renovation of its historic interiors, Castle Howard’s 21st Century Renaissance takes place on April 25. It will include the unveiling of its lost Tapestry Drawing Room which has been restored to its original 18th-century splendour for the first time since a devastating fire in 1940. Following sensitive interventions to the building making it a more welcoming visitor experience, the reopening of the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery takes place on May 10 and on the same day also sees the unveiling of C C Land: The Wonder of Art, a once-in-a- generation rehang of the entire National Gallery collection. At the Tower of London, on May 23, the Medieval Palace will re-open as a re-imagined permanent exhibition, transporting visitors to the medieval period through innovative storytelling, hands-on interactives, and multisensory displays. Meanwhile the V&A East Storehouse (the first of two new museums as part of V&A East) will open on May 31 and will be the new home for 250k objects and archives fully accessible to the public, and in Autumn, a new Space gallery will open at the Science Museum.
Exhibitions include from March 29; Pirates will open at the National Maritime Museum tracing the changing depictions of pirates through the ages and revealing the brutal history obscured by fiction. On April 11, a major exhibition opens at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace titled The Edwardians: Age of Elegance which will explore the lives and tastes of two of Britain’s most fashionable royal couples – King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary – from their family lives and personal collecting to their glittering social circles, global travels and spectacular royal events. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has announced two new exhibitions coming to Stratford-upon-Avon this year. Starting at Easter, Shakespeare’s New Place will explore the many archetypes of femininity and the construction of gender on the stage through the lens of four female characters, Titania, Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth and Beatrice. The second exhibition, due to open later in spring, at Shakespeare’s Birthplace will help visitors discover more about the famous playwright’s formative years, delving into the start of his spark of creativity.
Unearthed: The Power of Gardening begins at the British Library on May 2; while at Kew Gardens, visitors can enjoy a Summer of Trees and experience the world-premiere of a new digital artwork, Of the Oak by Marshmallow Laser Feast, which opens on May 3. The Natural History Museum’s new blockbuster exhibition Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth? opens on May 16 as does the British Library’s Story Explorers which is a free experiential space for young families inspired by highlights from the library’s collection which will take children on imaginative journeys. Also on May 16, Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits begins at English Heritage’s Kenwood in north London. The exhibition will not only showcase John Singer Sargent’s magnificent portraits of the American women who crossed the Atlantic to marry British aristocrats but reveal the real stories and achievements of those “dollar princesses”. The next day, on May 17 sees the opening of Garden Futures: Designing with Nature at V&A Dundee, which is a sumptuous, colour-filled exhibition that takes visitors on an illuminating journey through key moments of inspiration and innovation in gardens and garden design, from the 20th century to present day and looking to the future of gardens. From June 21, Whipsnade Zoo will become home to 12 giant folklore inspired troll sculptures, crafted using recycled materials, in a world premiere for the latest exhibition by Danish artist, Thomas Dambo.
Later in the summer, the brand-new Carbon Garden at Kew Gardens will explore how nature can help fight climate change and the urgent need to tackle the climate crisis and The Roman Baths will stay open late every evening between July 21 – August 31) offering visitors a chance to enjoy the special atmosphere around the torchlit Great Bath. For the first time they are putting together a programme of music and entertainment over the weekends, and there will be a pop-up bar beside the Great Bath. The Roman Baths museum will also stay open into the evening, so that visitors can explore the displays about Roman life long after the usual closing time. Meanwhile 120 works exploring the visual art of Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke, specifically created for Yorke’ s internationally-acclaimed band Radiohead, will be the focus of an Ashmolean retrospective from August.
Later in the year, at The Fitzwilliam Museum, from October 3, a major exhibition on Ancient Egypt will be the first to reveal the untold stories of the makers and artists behind the iconic objects that defined a civilisation. Also in October, the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery will present Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES, a landmark exhibition from the pioneering London-based artists from the 7th, while from October 9, Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World will be at the National Portrait Gallery focussing on the renowned fashion illustrator, Oscar-winning costume designer, social caricaturist and writer who was an extraordinary force in the 20th century British and American creative scenes.
Meanwhile Wildlife Photographer of the Year returns to the Natural History Museum (South Kensington) for its sixty-first awards ceremony in October, accompanied by the much-loved exhibition which displays the most captivating one hundred images as selected by their expert panel of judges. The Design Museum will host the first retrospective exhibition of the work of film director Wes Anderson, which opens on November 21 and will follow the evolution of his films from his first experiments in the 1990s, right up to his most recent, Oscar-winning frescoes.
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NOTES TO EDITORS:
ALVA’s Members are the UK’s most popular, iconic and important museums, galleries, palaces, castles, cathedrals, zoos, historic houses, heritage sites, gardens and leisure attractions.
