Visitor figures for 2019 withheld as musuems deal with closure

The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) has withdrawn its annual figures, released last week, showing large increases in visitor numbers at UK visitor attractions in 2019.

Director Bernard Donoghue said: "In the light of the Prime Minister's statement… and the severe restrictions on leaving home, we feel that to issue the results of last year's bumper year for visitor attractions would be inappropriate when all of our members are closed and are facing challenging times. We will issue the data later in the Spring."

ALVA members are some of the UK's most popular museums, galleries, palaces, castles, cathedrals, zoos, historic houses, heritage sites, gardens and leisure attractions. Its 70 members manage nearly 2,200 tourist sites and attract over 119 million domestic and overseas visitors each year. In 2018 Tate Modern overtook the British Museum to become the most-visited attraction in the UK.

ALVA has been asking the Treasury and DCMS to divert £120m earmarked for the so-called ‘Festival of Brexit’ to support organisations now facing cashflow problems.