England’s gardens, farms and leisure and theme parks have seen the most significant growth in visitor numbers in VisitEngland’s Annual Attraction Survey published today.
Out of the 1500 English attractions in the survey, outdoor attractions performed particularly well in 2015. Gardens, farms and leisure and theme parks reported the biggest increase in visitors, each up 7%, with wildlife attractions and country parks also seeing visitor numbers grow by 4%.
Visits to rural and coastal attractions grew by 5% and 4% respectively, echoing VisitEngland research that shows an increase in domestic holidays to the seaside (up 7%) and countryside (up 12%) in 2015.
Tourism Minister Tracey Crouch said:
“Year after year, our world-class tourist attractions continue to draw millions of visitors not just into London, but to the country as a whole.
“It is fantastic to see such strong growth across the regions, particularly in rural and coastal communities.
“Tourism contributes around £60 billion to our economy every year and these results show that the benefits of this thriving industry are being spread more evenly around the country.”
VisitEngland Chief Executive Sally Balcombe said:
“The attractions sector is an integral part of our national tourism offer and plays a crucial role in driving economic growth across all of England’s regions.
“It’s great to see that more people explored the country’s stunning gardens and scenery in 2015, and we will be further highlighting gardens to visitors this year as we celebrate 2016 as the ‘Year of the English Garden’.”
The Tower of London remained the most visited ‘paid for’ attraction with 2.8 million visits followed by Westminster Abbey and Kew Gardens which saw 1.6 million visitors each.
Topping the list of free attractions for the eighth year was the British Museum with more than 6.8 million visitors followed by the National Gallery (6 million visitors) and the Natural History Museum (5.3 million visitors).
Visits to England’s attractions rose by 2% in 2015 with revenue up 5%.
VisitEngland’s latest figures show that the first four months of this year have set a record for domestic holiday trips in England with trips up 8% to 11 million and spend up 22% to £2.8 billion.
Most visited attractions in England – Free Attractions – 2015
| Name of Attraction | Region | Category | 2014 visitors | 2015 visitors |
| British Museum | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 6,695,213 | 6,820,686 |
| National Gallery | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 6,416,724 | 5,908,254 |
| Natural History Museum | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 5,388,295 | 5,284,023 |
| Tate Modern | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 5,785,427 | 4,712,581 |
| Brighton Pier | South East | Other | 4,500,000 (E) | 4,600,000 (E) |
| Victoria and Albert Museum | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 3,651,450 | 3,888,374 |
| Science Museum | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 3,358,086 | 3,356,212 |
| Alexandra Park and Palace | London | Historic Properties | 2,700,000 (E) | 2,800,000 (E) |
| National Portrait Gallery | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 2,062,502 | 2,145,486 |
| British Library | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 1,627,599 (E) | 1,579,570 (E) |
| National Maritime Museum | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 1,517,787 | 1,358,964 |
| Tate Britain | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 1,357,878 | 1,284,519 |
| Imperial War Museum London | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 914,774 | 1,102,655 |
| MAC Birmingham | West Midlands | Other | 996,523 | 1,028,371 |
| Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | West Midlands | Museums & Art Galleries | 696,488 | 909,935 |
| Museum of London | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 909,645 | 872,978 |
| Ashmolean Museum | South East | Museums & Art Galleries | 875,407 | 848,359 |
| Museums Sheffield: Millennium Gallery | Yorkshire & Humberside | Museums & Art Galleries | 764,892 | 764,639 |
| Horniman Museum and Gardens | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 870,051 | 758,868 |
| Durham Cathedral | North East | Places of Worship | 734,000 (E) | 755,000 (E) |
Most visited attractions in England – Paid Attractions – 2015
| Name of Attraction | Region | Category | 2014 visitors | 2015 visitors |
| Tower of London | London | Historic Properties | 3,081,939 | 2,785,249 |
| Westminster Abbey | London | Places of Worship | 1,786,106 | 1,664,850 |
| Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Gardens | London | Gardens | 1,368,565 | 1,622,821 |
| St Paul’s Cathedral | London | Places of Worship | 1,782,741 (E) | 1,609,325 (E) |
| Chester Zoo | North West | Wildlife | 1,432,867 | 1,516,808 |
| Windermere Lake Cruises, Bowness | North West | Other | 1,469,189 | 1,482,899 |
| Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo | Yorkshire & Humberside | Leisure / Theme Parks | 1,536,279 | 1,470,828 |
| Stonehenge | South West | Historic Properties | 1,346,177 | 1,366,765 |
| ZSL London Zoo | London | Wildlife | 1,318,621 | 1,265,911 |
| Drayton Manor Theme Park | West Midlands | Leisure / Theme Parks | 1,064,835 | 1,210,141 |
| Royal Academy of Arts | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 824,793 | 1,096,608 |
| RHS Garden Wisley | South East | Gardens | 1,023,715 | 1,087,927 |
| Roman Baths | South West | Museums & Art Galleries | 1,015,135 | 1,044,802 |
| Colchester Zoo | East of England | Wildlife | 964,222 | 964,050 |
| Eden Project | South West | Gardens | 867,362 | 960,029 |
| Canterbury Cathedral | South East | Places of Worship | 1,004,573 (E) | 957,355 (E) |
| Houses of Parliament | London | Historic Properties | 1,253,326 | 928,855 |
| Tatton Park | North West | Historic Properties | 834,500 (E) | 875,000 (E) |
| Tower Bridge Exhibition | London | Historic Properties | 646,659 | 786,603 |
| Royal Observatory Greenwich | London | Museums & Art Galleries | 785,962 | 778,865 |
Visitor admission trends 2015 – by attraction category
| Type of Attraction | Visitor admission trends 2015 |
| Country parks | 4% |
| Farms | 7% |
| Gardens | 7% |
| Historic houses / castles | 2% |
| Other historic properties | 2% |
| Leisure / theme parks | 7% |
| Museums / art galleries | -0.5% |
| Steam / heritage railways | 2% |
| Visitor / heritage centres | 3% |
| Wildlife attractions/zoos | 4% |
| Workplaces | 4% |
| Places of worship | -0.5% |
| Other | 2% |
Visitor admission trends 2015 – by region
| Region | Visitor admission trends 2015 |
| North West | 4% |
| North East | 3% |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | 2% |
| East Midlands | 6% |
| West Midlands | 6% |
| East | 3% |
| London | -3% |
| South East | 3% |
| South West | 6% |
