A survey carried out by VisitEngland showed a 65% drop in overall visitors to attractions in 2020 compared with 2019, while revenue fell by 55% year-on-year.
Art galleries, museums and historic properties saw the “most marked” falls as lockdowns forced their closure for long periods of the year.
Outdoor attractions, including country parks, wildlife centres and gardens saw the smallest year-on-year decreases in visitor numbers, with rural-based locations recording a 47% fall compared with a 74% drop for urban attractions.
Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens was the most visited paid-for attraction in England in 2020 with 1.2 million visitors but its numbers were still nearly half of those seen in 2019. Tate Modern in London was top free attraction with 1.4 million visitors.
But the Tower of London, which had been the top attraction every year since 2009, fell to 10th position after seeing an 85% decrease in visitors.
VisitEngland director Andrew Stokes said: “These statistics are a stark demonstration of the impact on England’s visitor attractions which, even when they began to reopen last summer, had to operate with much reduced capacity before further lockdowns.
"It also underscores the importance of international visitors especially to our city attractions.
“The findings echo our consumer sentiment research which has consistently shown a preference for outdoor visitor attractions, highlighting that there is still a job to do to boost confidence in visiting city and indoor attractions.”
