Visits to London’s top attractions plummet because city is too pricey for people
People are avoiding visits to London because the cost of travel, food and drink is too expensive
LESS people are visiting London's biggest tourist attractions – because people can’t afford a trip to the capital.
The British Museum, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern and National Gallery welcomed a total of almost two million fewer people in 2017 compared with the previous year.
Bernard Donoghue, director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions which published the figures blames the fall on the fact that trips to London have become too expensive for many people.
He said: "Several factors have had an impact on UK visitors to central London, with associated evidence that the costs linked with a visit such as travel, food and drink have played an important part in deciding where to visit."
Mr Donoghue noted that some people have been put off visiting major cities due to global terror attacks, but insisted that it’s the costs involved with visiting London which is putting people off the most.
He also blamed rail works for putting people off from visiting the capital.
He said: "The semi-closure of Waterloo station in August as well as the inconsistent train service from south and south-east England also deterred people from travelling to London.
“This encouraged people to visit attractions nearer to home [instead].”
One in five trains run by Govia Thameslink Railway, failed to arrive within five minutes of their scheduled time in the last year.
The British Museum maintained its position as the most popular tourist attraction despite suffering an 8 per cent drop in visitors to 5.9 million visitors per year.
The Tate Modern was down three per cent in terms of visitors to to 5.7 million visits per year.
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However it's not all doom and gloom, as blockbuster attractions such as the V&A’s Pink Floyd exhibition have done well – with the V&A increasing its visitor numbers by 26 per cent this year to 3.8 million.
And for the first time in four years, the UK's most visited attractions outside London were in Scotland.
The National Museum of Scotland’s visitors were up by 20 per cent, while Edinburgh Castle’s visitors increased by 16 per cent.