VisitEngland has revealed its annual visitor statistics for 2023, showing the most visited paid for and free attractions across the country.
Museums/art galleries and places of worship received the highest increase in visits year on year, growing by 20% and 19% respectively.
Westminster Abbey received more than 1.5 million visitors last year, closely followed by St Paul’s Cathedral. Both reported a good increase in the number of visitors they saw.
The Tower of London was the most visited paid for attraction in 2023, attracting 2.8 million visitors meaning it was up 38% on 2021 levels. The most visited free attraction was the British Museum.
Kew Gardens and Chester Zoo took second and third spot respectively in the paid for attractions category while it was Natural History Museum and Tate Modern which took those spots respectively in the free attractions list.
The stats showed that admissions to attractions across continued to increase in 2023, but at a slower rate in the previous two years which is thought to be due to the rising costs of living.
You can see the top 10 table below
| Rank | Name of FREE attraction | 2023 visitors | Name of PAID FOR attraction | 2023 visitors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | British Museum | 5,820,860 | Tower of London | 2,791,834 |
| 2 | Natural History Museum | 5,686,601 | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew | 1,974,295 |
| 3 | Tate Modern | 4,729,444 | Chester Zoo | 1,941,754 |
| 4 | Brighton Pier | 4,235,165 | Westminster Abbey | 1,587,866 |
| 5 | National Gallery | 3,096,508 | St Paul’s Cathedral | 1,499,575 |
| 6 | Victorian and Albert Museum | 3,089,434 | Windsor Castle | 1,374,607 |
| 7 | Science Museum | 2,956,886 | Stonehenge | 1,327,423 |
| 8 | Somerset House | 2,727,677 | Windermere Lake Cruises | 1,319,696 |
| 9 | Royal Museums Greenwich | 2,506,962 | RHS Garden Wisley | 1,306,664 |
| 10 | British Library | 1,390,378 | Colchester Zoo | 1,003,817 |
VisitEngland director Andrew Stokes said: “It’s 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.
“Our exceptional attractions remain vitally important to our tourism offer and it’s no surprise international and domestic tourists are returning to our first-class museums and galleries and our world-beating castles and historic houses.”
VisitEngland says the survey is carried out through a mix of online and postal entries and that the lists of English attractions included in the report only feature those that choose to participate and agree to make their results public.
For more information and inspiration, go to www.visitengland.com.
