Statistical data set

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.

Pre-release access list

Last update

7 December 2023

Geographic coverage

England

Frequency of release

Quarterly

Summary

Between July 2023 and September 2023, there were 12.5 million visits to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries. Visits remained 11.2% lower than the equivalent period pre-pandemic in 2019 when comparing museums open in both time periods. Visits have been increasing each year since the pandemic and are 24.4% higher than the equivalent period last year.

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), National Portrait Gallery (June 2020 to June 2023), Young V&A (April 2020 to July 2023), V&A Blythe House (April 2020 onwards) and National Science and Media Museum (June 2023 onwards).

Some parts of the National Gallery, Science and Industry Museum (Science Museum Group) and National Railway Museum are partially closed for renovation works. The National Science and Media Museum (Science Museum Group) has been fully closed for major renovations since June 2023.

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: Fahim Ali

For any queries please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

Published 1 March 2013
Last updated 7 December 2023 + show all updates
  1. Updated data to reflect the July 2023 - September 2023 time period.

  2. The tables have been updated with the most recent quarter of data and now include visitor figures between April 2023 to June 2023.

  3. Update to the "Next Update" section of the Statistical data set page to May 2023 (with supporting explanation).

  4. Updating for the latest Monthly and Quarterly release of visitor figures for DCMS-Sponsored museums.

  5. An update of the publication to include April-June 2022 visitor figures for the DCMS-sponsored Museums and Galleries.

  6. Data tables have been updated with the latest visitor figures for January to March 2022.

  7. Monthly and quarterly visitor figures have been updated with data for October to December 2021.

  8. 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.

  9. Updated to include data covering July to September 2021

  10. Updated to include data from April to June 2021.

  11. Published visitor data for October to December 2020

  12. Published monthly DCMS-sponsored museum visitor figures for July to September 2020

  13. Publication of DCMS sponsored museum visitor figures January to March 2020

  14. Publishing monthly visitor figures for October to December 2019.

  15. We have updated this series to include visitor figures up to September 2019

  16. Updated with visitor figures up to June 2019

  17. Updated with visitor figures for January, February and March 2019

  18. Monthly museum and galleries visits have been updated with December 2018 data.

  19. Updated with visitor figures up to November 2018.

  20. Updated with visitor figures for October 2018.

  21. Updated with visitor figures for September 2018.

  22. Updated with visitor numbers for August 2018

  23. Updated with visitor figures for July 2018

  24. Updated with monthly visit figures for June 2018

  25. Updated with the latest visitor numbers for May 2018

  26. Updated with visitor figures for April 2018.

  27. Updated with visitor figures for February 2018.

  28. 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.

  29. Updated with the latest visitor figures for January 2018.

  30. Updated with December 2017 visitor figures.

  31. Updated with visitor figures for November 2017.

  32. Updated with visitor figures for October 2017.

  33. Updated with monthly visit figures for September 2017.

  34. Updated with August 2017 data.

  35. Updated with July 2017 monthly visits.

  36. Latest statistics published.

  37. Updated with latest figures for May 2017

  38. Updated with latest figures for April 2017

  39. Updated with the latest statistics for March 2017

  40. Monthly release and new CSV format

  41. Updated statistics.

  42. Updated statistics.

  43. New statistics.

  44. Updated statistics.

  45. Updated statistics for July 2016.

  46. Updated statistics - June 2016.

  47. Updated statistics - May 2016.

  48. Updated figures.

  49. Updated figures.

  50. Updated statistics.

  51. Updated statistics (January 2016).

  52. December 2016 figures.

  53. Revised on 15th January 2016.

  54. Updated data.

  55. Updated statistics.

  56. Updated statistics

  57. Updated statistics

  58. Updated statistics

  59. Updated statistics

  60. Updated statistics

  61. Updated statistics

  62. Updated statistics

  63. Updated monthly museums and galleries visitor figures

  64. Monthly museum figures updated

  65. Publication of sponsored museum and gallery visits November 2014

  66. Publication of sponsored museum and gallery visits for October 2014

  67. Publication of September 2014 visit figures for sponsored museums and galleries

  68. Publication of sponsored museums and galleries visit figures for August 2014

  69. Publication of sponsored museum and gallery visit figures for June 2014

  70. Publication of museums and galleries monthly visits for May 2014

  71. Publication of new dataset for April 2014

  72. December data added

  73. Updated monthly figures to include October 2013

  74. Added pre-release access list

  75. updated monthly figures to include August 2013

  76. Updated summary and added September's report.

  77. Updated statistics

  78. Updated to include month on month and year on year comparisons.

  79. Latest figures added

  80. First published.