Museums and Tourism Briefing 30 Apr 2013

NMDC has produced a briefing, Museums and Tourism to show the importance of museums to the tourist economy. Eight of the top ten most popular attractions in the UK are national museums and 51.3% of UK adults visited a museum or gallery in 2012. There are now more than 5 million more visits to museums and galleries than in 2005, and they remain popular with international visitors (including those from both mature markets and the high-spending new markets). 40% of visitors to the UK cited culture as their reason to visit, and UK museums' international work further raises the profile of UK culture with museums lending high profile objects or complete exhibitions to venues in all of VisitBritain's top 20 market's for predicted growth.

The briefing shows that museums are driving economic development and local investment across the UK by attracting record numbers of visitors, encouraging secondary spending, directly and indirectly creating jobs and making areas more desirable for investment. They are critical to both the domestic and overseas tourism industries.

You can read the briefing here.