The British Museum has retained its position as the most visited free UK attraction for the 10th consecutive year with 5,906,716 visitors in 2017, from figures published by VisitBritain. The Tate Modern was second in the free sector (5,656,004 visitors) followed by the National Gallery (5,229,192 visitors).

In fourth place was Brighton Pier with an estimated 4,684,000 visitors, the only free attraction in the top ten not in London, followed by the National History Museum (4,434,520), the Victoria and Albert Museum (3,789,748), the Science Museum (3,251, 634), Somerset House (3,223,250), Tate Britain (1,777,877) and the National Portrait Gallery (1,703,411).

Of the most visited paid attractions the number one was the Tower of London (2,842,970), followed by Chester Zoo (1,856,628), Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo, near York (1,691,083), Windermere Lake Cruises (1,611,491), Stonehenge (1,582,532), St Paul’s Cathedral (1,571,197), Westminster Abbey (1,547,001), Kew Gardens (1,485,337), the Roman Baths and Pump Room at Bath (1,318,976) and the RHS Gardens at Wisley, Woking (1,143,175).

The figures for the top ten attractions indicate a total of nearly 40 million visitors to the free attractions and nearly 16 million to the paid attractions.