For the second time in a row, the British Museum, famous London museum, has ended up at the top of the list, closely followed by the Natural History Museum.
Each year, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) monitors the visitor numbers of 400 tourist attractions across the United Kingdom, resulting in a ranking of the most popular sites and providing insight into overall growth within the industry.
In 2024, the British Museum in London was able to attract 6,479,952 visitors, an 11% increase compared to 2023. The. Natural History Museum, also located in the capital, saw a similar growth and ended up in the second spot with 6,301,972 visitors. Windsor Great Park ended up third with 5,670,430 visitors in 2024.
Visitor numbers beyond England
Yet even though the two most popular spots were located in England, other parts of the United Kingdom too have had some success. In Scotland, Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland came out as the top attraction with 2,314,974 visitors – a 6% increase which puts it in 11th place in the ALVA ranking. The National Galleries Scotland’s main site came out second with 1,999,196 visitors and the Edinburgh Castle finished third with 1,981,152 visits.
In Northern Ireland, Titanic Belfast remained the most-visited attraction with 881,573 visitors, marking a 10% increase. The Giant’s Causeway and the Ulster Museum completed the top three.
As for Wales, Cardiff’s St Fagans National Museum of History led the ALVA list with 600,690 visits. The National Museum Cardiff and Bodnant Garden came second and third respectively.
Museum industry struggling since pandemic
Overall, however, the sector is still facing challenges, according to ALVA. Compared to pre-pandemic figures from 2019, the 400 sites recorded an 8.8% decrease in visitor numbers.
“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”, ALVA director Bernard Donoghue commented to BBC.
This comes just weeks after 14 March 2025, when Tate announced it would cut 7% of its workforce (around 40 jobs) across its four galleries in London, Liverpool and Cornwall to address a funding deficit.
“Tate has an ambitious programme to grow our audiences across the nation and beyond. To eliminate the deficit left over from the pandemic, we have strengthened new income streams, strategically prioritised our most impactful activities, and carefully streamlined out workforce”, a spokesperson said at the time.
