British Museum tops most-visited list for 2014
Commonwealth Games give Scotland's museums a boost
The British Museum in London is the most popular UK visitor attraction for the eighth year running, attracting 6,695,213 visitors in 2014, according to research from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva).
The second most popular venue was the city's National Gallery, which had 6,416,724 visitors through its doors, a 6.4% increase on 2013. Meanwhile, the nearby Southbank Centre came in third with 6,255,799 visitors. Overall, London's sites saw an increase of just over 7%.
Scotland saw the biggest uplift in visitor numbers to its attractions with an increase of almost 10%, partly due to the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow in July. Visits to the city's Riverside Museum increased by 42%, while the Gallery of Modern Art and the People’s Palace saw uplifts of 9% and more than 22% respectively.
The Alva figures showed that total visits to UK museums and galleries increased more than 6% last year compared with 2013.
London's Tate Modern had 5,785,427 visitors. Its Matisse show was the most popular exhibition ever held at Tate.
The Imperial War Museum in Lambeth saw the most dramatic increase – 153% on the same period in 2013.
This was largely driven by events to mark the centenary of world war one. The museum’s new World War Galleries attracted almost one million visitors in six months.
Bernard Donoghue, the director of Alva, said: “As we approach the general election we want to remind political parties that no party mentioned tourism in their last general election manifesto, however these figures clearly demonstrate the popularity of our best-loved attractions and the importance of tourism to the UK and the Scottish economy.”
The second most popular venue was the city's National Gallery, which had 6,416,724 visitors through its doors, a 6.4% increase on 2013. Meanwhile, the nearby Southbank Centre came in third with 6,255,799 visitors. Overall, London's sites saw an increase of just over 7%.
Scotland saw the biggest uplift in visitor numbers to its attractions with an increase of almost 10%, partly due to the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow in July. Visits to the city's Riverside Museum increased by 42%, while the Gallery of Modern Art and the People’s Palace saw uplifts of 9% and more than 22% respectively.
The Alva figures showed that total visits to UK museums and galleries increased more than 6% last year compared with 2013.
London's Tate Modern had 5,785,427 visitors. Its Matisse show was the most popular exhibition ever held at Tate.
The Imperial War Museum in Lambeth saw the most dramatic increase – 153% on the same period in 2013.
This was largely driven by events to mark the centenary of world war one. The museum’s new World War Galleries attracted almost one million visitors in six months.
Bernard Donoghue, the director of Alva, said: “As we approach the general election we want to remind political parties that no party mentioned tourism in their last general election manifesto, however these figures clearly demonstrate the popularity of our best-loved attractions and the importance of tourism to the UK and the Scottish economy.”