VisitEngland announced England’s most visited attractions in 2023. Admissions to English attractions continued to increase in 2023, but at a slower rate than in the previous two years.
England’s most visited attractions continued to recover in 2023, with visits increasing by 11% compared to 2022, according to VisitEngland’s 2023 Annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions. However, these numbers still fall significantly short of pre-pandemic levels, remaining 28% below those recorded in 2019.
The survey, which gathered information from 1,513 English attractions, shows that growth was fuelled by the return of overseas visitors and an increase in school trips in 2023. International visits to England’s attractions were up 80% last year compared to 2022. Domestic visits to attractions in 2023 meanwhile saw a decrease of 2% on the previous year.
Most regions saw admissions grow between 4-8% with London the exception seeing growth of 26% largely driven by international visitors. Despite the high percentage increase the volume of attraction visits in London remains well below 2019 levels, at -22%.
The Tower of London was again in the top spot last year as the most visited ‘paid for’ attraction in England, with 2.8 million visitors, up 38% on 2022, although down 6% on 2019. Kew Gardens also retained second place with 2.0 million visitors, up 1% on 2022 and Chester Zoo came in third with 1.9 million, up 6% on 2022.
The British Museum also regained poll position in the list of ‘free attractions’ in England in 2023, with 5.8 million visitors, up 42% on 2022 although still down 7% on 2019. Second was the Natural History Museum with 5.7 million visitors, up 18% on 2022. The third most visited free attraction in England in 2023 was the Tate Modern with 4.7 million visitors, up 22% on 2022.
The highest levels of growth were seen in the ‘Museum/Art Galleries’ category, which suffered one of the sharpest declines in visitors because of COVID-19, with a 20% increase in visits in 2023 compared to 2022. ‘Places of Worship’ saw the second largest increase, up 19% on the previous year, and ‘Visitor/Heritage Centres’ showed recovery in visitor numbers last year, up 14% on 2022. ‘Historic Houses/Castles’ also saw good growth with a 13% increase in 2023 on the previous year.
Here are the top 20 most visited free and paid attractions in England in 2023.
Tourism is one of England’s largest, most valuable industries, supporting 200,000+ businesses, employing about 2.6 million people and, in 2023, generating £70.2 billion in domestic visitor spending.
