A new survey of England’s tourist attractions shows significant growth in visits to gardens, farms and leisure and theme parks.

The Tower of London is England’s most visited ‘paid for’ attraction © Historic Royal Palaces

Out of the 1,500 English attractions which responded to VisitEngland’s Annual Attractions Survey, outdoor attractions performed particularly well in 2015.

Gardens, farms and leisure/theme parks reported the biggest increase in visitors, each up 7%, with wildlife attractions and country parks also seeing visitor numbers grow by 4%. Visits to England’s attractions as a whole rose by 2% in 2015 with revenue up 5%.

Topping the list of free attractions for the eighth year was the British Museum with more than 6.8 million visitors followed by the National Gallery (6 million visitors) and the Natural History Museum (5.3 million visitors).

The Tower of London remained the most visited ‘paid for’ attraction with 2.8 million visits followed by Westminster Abbey and Kew Gardens which saw 1.6 million visitors each. 

Tourism Minister Tracey Crouch said: "Year after year, our world-class tourist attractions continue to draw millions of visitors not just into London, but to the country as a whole.

“Tourism contributes around £60 billion to our economy every year and these results show that the benefits of this thriving industry are being spread more evenly around the country."

VisitEngland Chief Executive Sally Balcombe said: “The attractions sector is an integral part of our national tourism offer and plays a crucial role in driving economic growth across all of England's regions.

“It’s great to see that more people explored the country’s stunning gardens and scenery in 2015, and we will be further highlighting gardens to visitors this year as we celebrate 2016 as the ‘Year of the English Garden’.”

Janet Redler, Chief Executive of Janet Redler Travel and Tourism, added: “It is great news that visits to England’s tourist attractions are increasing. At Janet Redler Travel and Tourism, we are certainly aware of the huge interest from overseas visitors in Britain’s gardens and country parks, as demand for our garden tours continues to grow. In this country, we have some of the best and most iconic gardens in the world and it is good to know that more people than ever are enjoying them.”

If you or your group would like a tailor made tour of Britain’s gardens and country parks, or indeed any of its other first class tourist attractions, please do contact us.