UK museum attendance drops as domestic visitors stay away

Government data shows attendance at 15 English government-funded museums fell from 50.8 million in the fiscal year ending April 2014 to an estimated 46.5 million in the current fiscal year. The Art Newspaper's annual survey of major English art museums reports a peak of 25.5 million visitors in 2014, with two million fewer in the last year. Excluding data from Tyne & Wear museums missing since 2016, the drop is 2.5 million visitors (about 5%) over three fiscal years. Meanwhile, foreign tourist numbers in the UK grow 5% annually, partly due to the pound's fall after the Brexit referendum. Former National Portrait Gallery director Sandy Nairne and former V&A director Mark Jones attribute the decline to economic crisis and rising travel costs within the UK, straining family budgets. National Gallery director Gabriele Finaldi confirms the trend, noting that foreign visitor numbers are stable while domestic visitors are decreasing. He points to soaring costs of paid exhibitions: the Picasso 1932 show at Tate Modern costs £22, 35% more than the Matisse exhibition two years earlier. Security fears from terrorist attacks have also reduced school visits, with visits by children under 16 falling 6% in fiscal year 2016-17. Bernard Donoghue of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions stated that visiting London has become too expensive for many.