Top UK tourist attractions enjoyed a record year in 2013, boosted by the decent summer weather and the London Olympics.
The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) surveyed their 52 members – who are the UK’s most popular, iconic and important museums, galleries, palaces, castles, cathedrals, zoos, historic houses, heritage sites, gardens and leisure attractions. They include over 2,000 tourist sites, hosting over 100 million domestic and overseas visitors each year – around 25% of the visits made annually in the UK.
During the period May 1st until August 5th, the results revealed that indoor and outdoor attractions did well across the UK, with gardens, zoos and stately homes successfully reversing 2012’s fall in numbers, which was due to the wet weather.
Blockbuster exhibitions in London did extremely well, David Bowie is..at the V&A sold out rapidly, and Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum at the British Museum was hugely popular, too. London’s attractions, which were greatly affected by the Olympic displacement in July and August 2012, received, on average, 26% more visitors during last year’s summer than in 2012.
As Bernard Donoghue, Director of ALVA noted: Summer 2013 is proving to be one of the best for visitor attractions across the UK in recent years. The combination of great weather, Brits choosing to stay at home and enjoy their own country, a relatively weak pound against the Euro and therefore our attractiveness for visitors from Euro countries, proved be a recipe for success. There is also clear evidence across the UK that investing in refurbishing museums, galleries and heritage sites attracts records visitors and benefits local economies.’
Let’s hope that despite a wet and challenging start to 2014, this summer will be another bumper year for UK’s tourist attractions – and fingers crossed it’ll bring abundant sunshine!
© ALVA
