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For the second year running, one London museum has been named the most popular tourist attraction in the entire United Kingdom. In fact, in the data from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) – which concerns visitor numbers in the 2024 calendar year – four of Britain’s top five attractions are right here in the capital.
Taking top spot was the British Museum. The Bloomsbury has topped ALVA’s list for the second year running, with a whopping 6,479,952 visitors in 2024. That’s an increase in 11 percent on 2023’s numbers, fuelled by the success of exhibitions on Michelangelo, Silk Road trade routes and life in the Roman Army.
And the British Museum is looking to built on its successes in 2024. Not only has the legendary attraction got great exhibitions coming up on ancient India and Japanese print master Utagawa Hiroshige but its Western Galleries are getting a huge makeover and the museum in general is set to receive the ‘biggest transformation of any museum in the world’.
Number two spot in ALVA’s report is also in London. The Natural History Museum was the country’s second busiest attraction with 6,301,972 visitors (also an 11 percent increase on 2023). Windsor’s Crown Estate came third with 5,670,430 (a three percent increase), which isn’t in London but is easily reachable from the capital.
ALVA’s entire top five most popular attractions in the UK is in the same order as it was in 2023. Fourth with 4,603,025 visits was Tate Modern (which celebrates its 25th birthday this year), while the Southbank Centre was fifth with 3,734,075.
A bit more interesting are the attractions with the biggest percentage increases on 2023. In London, the National Portrait Gallery saw a humungous 36 percent increase in visits year-on-year (up to 1,578,065), moving up to 18th place nationally, while the Young V&A had a 47 percent increase and welcomed 596,100 visitors.
You can read ALVA’s full report on the most popular visitor attractions in the UK in 2024 here.
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