Natural History Museum named UK’s most visited indoor attraction for second consecutive year | UK News

The Natural History Museum has been the UK’s most visited indoor attraction for the second year in a row, according to new figures.

The Museum of London welcomed 4,654,608 visitors last year, surpassing the British Museum, which had 4,097,253 visitors, and the Tate Modern, with 3,883,160 visitors, according to data from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions ( Alva).

But it was Windsor Great Park which again won the title of most visited attraction in the UK with 5,636,844 visits, an increase of 4% compared to 2021.

Westminster Abbey, where the Queen’s funeral took place in September, saw one of the biggest increases in visitor numbers in 2022, up 551% to 1,063,063 visits.

However, while numbers were up 69% across all attractions last year compared to 2021, they were still down 23% from 2019 pre-COVID levels.

ALVA director Bernard Donoghue said the figures showed the UK tourism industry was experiencing “the tourism equivalent of long COVID”.

“(This is) due, mainly, to the absence of international visitors, especially China and the Far East, but I am confident they will come back this year and we will see a healthy and continued recovery,” he said.

“The year ended strongly with attractions reporting a very busy Christmas, high visitor numbers and strong retail sales.

“People clearly wanted to create special memories with their loved ones after two tough years and a tough economic climate.”

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Commenting on the figures, Natural History Museum director Doug Gurr said: “We are delighted to have become the UK’s most popular indoor attraction for the second year in a row.

“It’s a testament to our innovative and inspiring public program of events and exhibits.”

Among the popular attractions that drew crowds to the Natural History Museum was the return of Dippy the dinosaur after a four-year tour of the UK.

The 85-foot-long (26 m) plaster cast of a diplodocus skeleton, which was first displayed in the London museum in 1905, was seen by 1,060,813 visitors when it returned to the as part of a new installation from the end of May 2022 to January 2023.

The exhibition Our Broken Planet: How We Got Here and Ways to Fix It, which engaged the public in the planetary emergency, was also seen by 1.2 million visitors during its run from May 2021 to August 2022 .

The popular Wildlife Photographer of the Year the exhibition also attracted 148,671 visitors.