National Gallery London's attendance still lags behind pre-pandemic figures despite recent renovations

The National Gallery in London has not fully recovered its pre-Covid visitor levels, with 4.2 million attendees in 2025, up from 3.2 million in 2024 but below the 6 million recorded in 2019. A renovation of the Sainsbury Wing in May provided a temporary boost, but annual projections remain about 800,000 lower than the decade before the pandemic. The gallery faces an £8.2 million deficit, leading to staffing cuts, and attributes the shortfall largely to a decline in international visitors. Efforts to attract more domestic visitors and a planned £750 million extension aim to improve numbers. Other London institutions like Tate Modern and Tate Britain also saw slight declines, while the Natural History Museum set a UK record with 7.1 million visitors. Globally, the Louvre led art museum attendance with 9 million visitors, and the National Museum of Korea experienced significant growth.