Museums and galleries monthly visits
Monthly provisional statistics on the number of visits to the DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries are published here every quarter.
Last update
15 May 2025
Geographic coverage
England
Frequency of release
Quarterly
Summary
Between January and March 2025, there were 9.5 million visits to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries. Overall visits were 7% lower than the equivalent period last year (when comparing museums open in both time periods). Overall visits were 17% lower than the equivalent period pre-pandemic in 2019 (when comparing museums open in both time periods).
Between 2021 and the end of the 2023/24 financial year, museum visitor numbers were increasing following the closure of museums and galleries during the pandemic. The growth in museum visitor numbers has slowed over the last year, and the total museum visitor numbers are yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. The fall in visitor numbers compared to last year continues to suggest that the growth in museum visitor numbers has slowed, but it doesn’t necessarily indicate the start of a decline in visitor figures.
The following museums were closed during the time periods being compared and are excluded in calculations for those time periods: Museum of the Home (January 2018 to June 2021), SMG Science and Innovation Park (recently opened in October 2024), SMG National Science and Media Museum (June 2023 - January 2025), Tate Liverpool (October 2023 onwards), V&A Blythe House (April 2020 onwards) and International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum (National Museums Liverpool) (January 2025 onwards).
Some parts of the Horniman, National Gallery, Royal Museums Greenwich, National Railway Museum (Science Museum Group), Science and Industry Museum (Science Museum Group) were partially closed during the latest period (January to March 2025).
Coverage
This release provides monthly absolute visitor totals for the individual museums and galleries sponsored by DCMS.
Background
This statistical series provides information about visits to DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries in England.
Data is published for monthly visits to museums and galleries and this is done on a quarterly basis. It is subject to seasonal fluctuations. The general trend is for visits to be higher during school holidays. Some temporary exhibitions attract large numbers of visits and there may also be occasions when all or part of a museum or gallery is closed for refurbishment, both affecting the visitor numbers.
Data collection methods vary between institutions, and each uses a method appropriate to its situation. All data is collected according to the Performance Indicator guidance.
Figures may be subject to revision. Any amendments will be published on this website in accordance with the Department’s revision statement, available in our compliance statement.
Office for Statistics Regulation
Our statistical practice is regulated by the OSR. OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing evidence@dcms.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
Pre-release access
The pre-release access list contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release of museum and gallery monthly visitor figures. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
Contact
Responsible statistician: Thomas Evans
For any queries please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk.
Updates to this page
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Added January to March 2025 data to the dataset.
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Updated to include October to December 2024 data.
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Update with July to September 2024 data.
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April to June 2024 museum visits have been added.
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Update to include January to March 2024 data.
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Update to include October to December 2023 data.
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Updated data to reflect the July 2023 - September 2023 time period.
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The tables have been updated with the most recent quarter of data and now include visitor figures between April 2023 to June 2023.
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Update to the "Next Update" section of the Statistical data set page to May 2023 (with supporting explanation).
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Updating for the latest Monthly and Quarterly release of visitor figures for DCMS-Sponsored museums.
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An update of the publication to include April-June 2022 visitor figures for the DCMS-sponsored Museums and Galleries.
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Data tables have been updated with the latest visitor figures for January to March 2022.
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Monthly and quarterly visitor figures have been updated with data for October to December 2021.
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A number of revisions have been made to the monthly and quarterly visits for the sponsored museums and galleries. These are marked with an [r] which denotes a revision in the associated data tables.
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Updated to include data covering July to September 2021
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Updated to include data from April to June 2021.
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Published visitor data for October to December 2020
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Published monthly DCMS-sponsored museum visitor figures for July to September 2020
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Publication of DCMS sponsored museum visitor figures January to March 2020
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Publishing monthly visitor figures for October to December 2019.
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We have updated this series to include visitor figures up to September 2019
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Updated with visitor figures up to June 2019
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Updated with visitor figures for January, February and March 2019
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Monthly museum and galleries visits have been updated with December 2018 data.
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Updated with visitor figures up to November 2018.
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Updated with visitor figures for October 2018.
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Updated with visitor figures for September 2018.
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Updated with visitor numbers for August 2018
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Updated with visitor figures for July 2018
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Updated with monthly visit figures for June 2018
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Updated with the latest visitor numbers for May 2018
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Updated with visitor figures for April 2018.
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Updated with visitor figures for February 2018.
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An error was identified in the published figures for the National Musuems Liverpool whereby one of the sites were omittied from the total figure. A revision has now been made to both the National Museums Liverpool and the total DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries figures.
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Updated with the latest visitor figures for January 2018.
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Updated with December 2017 visitor figures.
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Updated with visitor figures for November 2017.
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Updated with visitor figures for October 2017.
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Updated with monthly visit figures for September 2017.
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Updated with August 2017 data.
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Updated with July 2017 monthly visits.
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Latest statistics published.
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Updated with latest figures for May 2017
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Updated with latest figures for April 2017
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Updated with the latest statistics for March 2017
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Monthly release and new CSV format
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Updated statistics.
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Updated statistics.
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New statistics.
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Updated statistics.
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Updated statistics for July 2016.
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Updated statistics - June 2016.
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Updated statistics - May 2016.
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Updated figures.
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Updated figures.
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Updated statistics.
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Updated statistics (January 2016).
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December 2016 figures.
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Revised on 15th January 2016.
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Updated data.
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Updated statistics.
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Updated statistics
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Updated statistics
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Updated statistics
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Updated statistics
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Updated statistics
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Updated statistics
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Updated statistics
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Updated monthly museums and galleries visitor figures
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Monthly museum figures updated
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Publication of sponsored museum and gallery visits November 2014
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Publication of sponsored museum and gallery visits for October 2014
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Publication of September 2014 visit figures for sponsored museums and galleries
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Publication of sponsored museums and galleries visit figures for August 2014
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Publication of sponsored museum and gallery visit figures for June 2014
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Publication of museums and galleries monthly visits for May 2014
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Publication of new dataset for April 2014
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December data added
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Updated monthly figures to include October 2013
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Added pre-release access list
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updated monthly figures to include August 2013
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Updated summary and added September's report.
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Updated statistics
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Updated to include month on month and year on year comparisons.
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Latest figures added
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First published.