Rail problems, fears of terrorism, and the high cost of getting to and eating in London have contributed to a “flatlining” of tourism in the capital last year.
But the newly released figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva) also show big tourism increases in Northern Ireland, and Scotland in particular.
The overall figures show an average increase of 7.3% on 2016 visitor numbers to UK attractions. In Scotland the increase is 13.9%, in Northern Ireland it is 6.5% and in London 1.2%.
Bernard Donoghue, director of Alva, said: “There are lots and lots of amazing stories, some concerning stories, but overall we are really delighted about continued growth and the popularity of visitor attractions.”
One of the main concerning stories is in London where visitor numbers were “flatlining”, he said.
There were many reasons including the “quite boring but fundamentally huge” issue of Waterloo being partially closed in August and the inconsistency of Southern Rail. Other factors are worries about terrorism and the high cost of travel, food and drink for families coming to London.
The British Museum continues to be the most popular visitor attraction in the UK for the 11th year running, despite an 8% fall in numbers. Tate Modern was in second spot, down 3%, and the National Gallery was in third, down 16.5%. The biggest fall was at the National Portrait Gallery, partly because it had a great 2016 thanks to its Vogue and Picasso shows. It was down 35%.
The big climbers were the V&A in fifth place, up 26% thanks largely to the popularity of its Pink Floyd exhibition; Tate Britain, up 61% which can partly be put down to its David Hockney show; and Kensington Palace, up 62.4% thanks to its display of Diana dresses.
Donoghue said it was “particularly eye-catching” that visitor numbers to Scotland outperformed the rest of the UK for the sixth year running.
Among the reasons were an increase in flights from the US and Europe to Glasgow and Edinburgh; and the full reopening of all the galleries of the National Museums of Scotland.
For the first time, the most visited attractions outside London were in Scotland. The National Museum of Scotland was up from 15th to 11th spot with a 20% increase. Edinburgh Castle is in 12th place with a 16% increase.
Northern Ireland’s increase was mostly down to a big rise in visitors from the Republic attracted by the euro making it about 16% cheaper.
Donoghue said: “That proves our point that any sense of a hard border between the north and the south would be disastrous for Northern Ireland tourism. So many of those people who have grown tourism over the past year are day trippers from Dublin.”
The most popular attraction in Northern Ireland was the Giant’s Causeway, in 33nd position overall, followed by Titanic Belfast at 46th.
The most visited visitor attraction outside London was Chester Zoo, albeit down 1.8%.
Alva said gardens and outdoor spaces were strikingly popular, with Wakehurst in West Sussex having a 17.8% increase in visitors, WildPlace Bristol up 28.5%, and WWT Welney in Cambridgeshire up 25%.
