Annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions: Latest results

Each year, we invite all English visitor attractions to take part in an annual survey, recording visitor numbers alongside key information like entrance fees and visitor profiles.

2022 Headline results

The results from this survey are reported annually, providing an overview of the visitor attraction sector.

The full report on 2022 trends is available here: 2022 Trends Report (PDF, 3.4MB)

The survey is carried out through a mix of online and postal survey. This approach means we're unable to verify results provided by individual attractions beyond a very basic 'sense check'. Read more about our methodology (PDF, 487KB)

Survey users should also be aware that the lists of English attractions included in the report only feature those that choose to participate and agree to make their results public.

The Annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions is an official statistic and is produced in adherence with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009).

If you have any queries about the survey, get in touch. Results of the survey are published according to our release timetable

TOP 10 MOST VISITED FREE ATTRACTIONS IN ENGLAND:

Rank

Name of Attraction

2019 Visitors

2020 Visitors

2021 Visitors

2022 Visitors
1 Natural History Museum 5,423,932 1,296,763 1,571,413 4,654,608

2

Brighton Pier 4,901,221 4,110,005 4,260,485 4,632,108
3 British Museum 6,239,983 1,275,466 1,327,120 4,097,253
4 Tate Modern 6,098,340 1,431,704 1,156,037 3,883,160
5 National Gallery 6,011,007 1,197,143 708,924 2,727,119
6 Victoria and Albert Museum 3,992,198 872,750 857,742 2,370,261
7 Somerset House 2,841,772 724,310 984,978 2,346,580
8 Science Museum 3,301,975 861,795 957,223 2,334,930
9 Abbey Gardens (Bury St Edmunds) 1,228,564 1,021,048 1,276,864 1,362,874
10 British Library 1,534,860 334,070 403,312 1,149,070

 

TOP 10 MOST VISITED PAID ATTRACTIONS IN ENGLAND:

Rank

Name of Attraction

2019 Visitors

2020 Visitors

2021 Visitors

2022 Visitors
1 Tower of London 2,984,499 447,812 526,379 2,019,868

2

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Gardens

2,316,699

1,212,855

1,966,854

1,963,885

3 RHS Garden Wisley 1,236,434 993,516 1,410,103 1,494,709
4 Windermere Lake Cruises 1,613,785 419,574 1,065,707 1,303,609
5 St Paul's Cathedral 1,716,417 260,622 278,413 1,193,888
6 Westminster Abbey 1,574,401 221,772 163,297 1,063,063
7 ZSL London Zoo 1,157,076 504,351 692,244 1,045,289
8 Adventure Island Southend N/A N/A 990,000 990,000
9 Stonehenge 1,604,248 314,999 334,087 977,316
10 Colchester Zoo 647,727 N/A 816,797 974,790