Natural History Museum tops UK visitor table with record 7.1 million visits

Alva, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, said total footfall at its 409 member attractions rose 2 per cent to 165 million in 2025. That was slower than the 3.4 per cent growth a year earlier, and visits remain 7 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.

The South Kensington museum reported a 13 per cent increase in footfall. Its total is 31 per cent higher than in 2019, and it is the third time it has topped Alva's most-visited list since the Covid pandemic. The British Museum came second with 6,440,120 visits, a slight drop of 1 per cent on the previous year but 3 per cent higher than its 2019 figure.

Why the crowds came

The museum reopened its gardens in 2024. In 2025 it opened Fixing Our Broken Planet, a permanent gallery on the planetary emergency, which has since drawn more than two million visitors. It also opened Our Story with David Attenborough, its first immersive cinematic experience, which attracted more than 133,000 visitors.

"We are thrilled to be the UK's most popular visitor attraction, smashing all previous records for the sector," said Doug Gurr, the museum's director.

Bernard Donoghue, director of Alva, told The Guardian that the renovated outdoor spaces were part of the reason. "It's an astonishingly fun, joyful day out and it's free," he said. "Even in a cost of living crisis, it's clear that the last thing that people are prepared to sacrifice are day visits."

The sector behind the headline

Tate Modern drew 4,514,266 visits, down 2 per cent on 2024 and 26 per cent below 2019. It attributes the drop to the decline in overseas tourists. The National Gallery rose 29 per cent to 4,147,544 after reopening its Sainsbury Wing and closing its bicentenary celebrations, but remains 31 per cent below its 2019 level.

The V&A's South Kensington site fell 5 per cent and is 16 per cent below 2019. Its new V&A East Storehouse drew 416,300 visitors in less than seven months after opening in May 2025. The Tower of London was the most visited paid attraction, in ninth place with 2,817,852 visits, a 3 per cent drop. The Science Museum and Royal Museums Greenwich fell 5 and 7 per cent and sit around a fifth below 2019.

Donoghue blamed the operating environment as well as travel patterns. Members absorbed higher national insurance contributions and an increased minimum wage from April 2025, he said, and many went through redundancies and restructuring. On visitors, he said Chinese numbers had returned to Italy at about 120 per cent of 2019 levels but to the UK at 81 per cent. He linked the UK figure to the removal of tax-free shopping.

What happens next

Under its NHM150 programme, the museum plans to open a new or revitalised permanent gallery every year until its 150th anniversary in 2031.

The Guardian reported optimism in the arts sector that 2026 will see higher visitor growth. It cited the British Museum's planned Bayeux loan, the opening of V&A East, the new London Museum and the Museum of Youth Culture. Donoghue called on the government to cut VAT on visitor attractions, reintroduce tax-free shopping and ringfence any tourism tax for culture and tourism.