Statistical data set

Museums and galleries monthly visits

Provisional statistics on the number of visits to our sponsored museums and galleries are published here every month.

Published 1 March 2013
Last updated 4 October 2018 — see all updates

• From: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

Monthly museum visitor figures - August 2018

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 410KB

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology. Request an accessible format.

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email enquiries@culture.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Monthly museum visitor figures - August 2018

View online Download CSV 421KB

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology. Request an accessible format.

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email enquiries@culture.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

• Last update: 4 October 2018
• Next update:1 November 2018
• Geographic coverage: England
• Frequency of release: Monthly

Summary

• In August 2018 there were a total of 5.4 million visits to the DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries.

• This is an increase of 12.3% (around 591,000 visits) compared with August 2017.

Note on National Portrait Gallery visitor figures

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) discovered an issue with its automated footfall counting system, which NPG reported it significantly underestimated visitor numbers. The revised figures have been verified by DCMS Officials and have been included in this month’s statistical release. These revised annual figure for 2017/18 was also published in the Sponsored Museums and Galleries Annual Performance Indicators 2017/18 on 26th September.

About

This release provides information about visits to sponsored museums and galleries in England. The visit figures are updated on the first Thursday of each month (aside from January), and will be one month in arrears to allow time for the museums and galleries to collect the data. The release is a time series including previously published data. The total visit figure refers to all visits to the sponsored museums and galleries, excluding corporate events.

Data collection methods vary between institutions, and each uses a method appropriate to its situation. All data is collected according to the P I guidance (MS Word Document, 66.6KB) .

All museums and galleries are subject to seasonal fluctuations in the numbers of visits they receive. The general trend is for the visit numbers to be higher during school holidays. Some temporary exhibitions attract large numbers of visits and this will also have an impact on the monthly figures. There may also be occasions when all or part of a museum or gallery is closed for refurbishment, affecting the monthly total.

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.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009) produced by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). The UKSA has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

Pre-release access

The Pre-release access list (MS Word Document, 13.2KB) contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Museum and Gallery monthly visit 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: Wilmah Deda

For any queries please contact 020 7211 6376 or evidence@culture.gov.uk.

Published 1 March 2013
Last updated 4 October 2018 + show all updates

1. 4 October 2018 Updated with visitor numbers for August 2018
2. 6 September 2018 Updated with visitor figures for July 2018
3. 2 August 2018 Updated with monthly visit figures for June 2018
4. 5 July 2018 Updated with the latest visitor numbers for May 2018
5. 7 June 2018 Updated with visitor figures for April 2018.
6. 5 April 2018 Updated with visitor figures for February 2018.
7. 8 March 2018 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.
8. 1 March 2018 Updated with the latest visitor figures for January 2018.
9. 1 February 2018 Updated with December 2017 visitor figures.
10. 11 January 2018 Updated with visitor figures for November 2017.
11. 7 December 2017 Updated with visitor figures for October 2017.
12. 2 November 2017 Updated with monthly visit figures for September 2017.
13. 5 October 2017 Updated with August 2017 data.
14. 7 September 2017 Updated with July 2017 monthly visits.
15. 3 August 2017 Latest statistics published.
16. 6 July 2017 Updated with latest figures for May 2017
17. 1 June 2017 Updated with latest figures for April 2017
18. 4 May 2017 Updated with the latest statistics for March 2017
19. 2 February 2017 Monthly release and new CSV format
20. 12 January 2017 Updated statistics.
21. 1 December 2016 Updated statistics.
22. 3 November 2016 New statistics.
23. 6 October 2016 Updated statistics.
24. 1 September 2016 Updated statistics for July 2016.
25. 4 August 2016 Updated statistics - June 2016.
26. 7 July 2016 Updated statistics - May 2016.
27. 2 June 2016 Updated figures.
28. 5 May 2016 Updated figures.
29. 7 April 2016 Updated statistics.
30. 3 March 2016 Updated statistics (January 2016).
31. 4 February 2016 December 2016 figures.
32. 15 January 2016 Revised on 15th January 2016.
33. 14 January 2016 Updated data.
34. 9 December 2015 Updated statistics.
35. 5 November 2015 Updated statistics
36. 1 October 2015 Updated statistics
37. 3 September 2015 Updated statistics
38. 2 July 2015 Updated statistics
39. 4 June 2015 Updated statistics
40. 7 May 2015 Updated statistics
41. 2 April 2015 Updated statistics
42. 5 March 2015 Updated monthly museums and galleries visitor figures
43. 5 February 2015 Monthly museum figures updated
44. 8 January 2015 Publication of sponsored museum and gallery visits November 2014
45. 4 December 2014 Publication of sponsored museum and gallery visits for October 2014
46. 6 November 2014 Publication of September 2014 visit figures for sponsored museums and galleries
47. 2 October 2014 Publication of sponsored museums and galleries visit figures for August 2014
48. 7 August 2014 Publication of sponsored museum and gallery visit figures for June 2014
49. 3 July 2014 Publication of museums and galleries monthly visits for May 2014
50. 5 June 2014 Publication of new dataset for April 2014
51. 6 February 2014 December data added
52. 5 December 2013 Updated monthly figures to include October 2013
53. 1 October 2013 Added pre-release access list
54. 1 October 2013 updated monthly figures to include August 2013
55. 2 September 2013 Updated summary and added September's report.
56. 1 August 2013 Updated statistics
57. 1 July 2013 Updated to include month on month and year on year comparisons.
58. 6 June 2013 Latest figures added
59. 1 March 2013 First published.