Tate Modern overtakes British Museum as top UK tourist attraction

The most popular English museum outside London was World Museum in Liverpool, where visitor numbers more than doubled to 1.42 million

Tate Modern, the former power station on London’s South Bank, has overtaken the British Museum as the UK’s leading tourist attraction.

Visits to the contemporary art venue increased by 3.4 per cent to 5.87 million in 2018 – with the Picasso 1932 exhibition a particular draw.

Visitor numbers to the British Museum fell by 1.3 per cent to 5.83 million last year.

The UK's top 10 most-visited attractions were all in London.

The most popular attractions outside the capital were in Scotland. In 11th place was the National Museum of Scotland, which saw a 3 per cent increase to 2.28 million visits.

The free museum increased its lead over Edinburgh Castle in 12th position, which had a 2 per cent rise to 2.11 million – making it the most-visited paid attraction in Scotland.

Britain’s leading tourist attractions did significantly better overall, with nearly 9 per cent more visitors in 2018 – with those in Scotland rising by 19 per cent.

Capital gains: the top 10 visitor attractions in the UK are all in London (Simon Calder)

The V&A Dundee, which opened in September, had 341,000 visits by the end of 2018, indicating that it will become of the million-plus attractions in 2019.

The most visited attraction in England outside London was Chester Zoo, in 13th place with 1.97 million visits.

Twentieth place went to the most visited “heritage site” outside London, Stonehenge, with 1.56 million visits.

The most popular English museum outside London was World Museum in Liverpool – where visitor numbers more than doubled to 1.42 million.

Much of the increase was due to the exhibition “China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors”. The museum estimates the exhibition generated £83 million for the Liverpool City Region.

“Double Fantasy: John & Yoko” at the Museum of Liverpool received 962,000 visits, increasing visitors numbers to the museum by one third.

Bernard Donoghue, director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, said: “I’m so delighted that every year, more and more people, from here in the UK and from overseas, are experiencing the astonishing array of our leading attractions in every part of the UK.”

He attributed the decline in visitor numbers at some attractions to the weather – “the Beast from the East” in February and March 2018 and the very hot summer – as well as the World Cup.

The tourism minister, Michael Ellis, said: “We are home to some of the best art galleries, museums and heritage sites in the world and these figures prove it.”

Looking ahead to the rest of 2019, zoos are launching significant developments: next month, Chester Zoo will open a “Madagascan forest”, while Whipsnade Zoo, the UK's largest, will open a freshwater aquariums in the summer.

Top 10 most-visited attractions in the UK

1. Tate Modern
2. British Museum
3. National Gallery
4. Natural History Museum
5. Southbank Centre
6. V&A London
7. Science Museum
8. Somerset House
9. Tower of London
10. Royal Museums of Greenwich