Top of the League

September 22nd 2016

Beamish is the North East’s most popular paid for attraction, a new report showed.

The award winning Town at Beamish

The museum once again topped the list of the region’s most visited paid for attractions, welcoming 671,441 people, according to VisitEngland’s Annual Attraction Survey for 2015.

Helen Barker, Beamish’s Assistant Director Engagement and Participation, said: “We’re really delighted to be the most visited paid for attraction in the North East and would like to thank all of our visitors who help to make Beamish a success.

“The VisitEngland survey shows how many great attractions there are in the North East and we’re really pleased to be amongst such good company!

“We have a fabulous team of staff and volunteers at the museum who give a warm North Eastern welcome to all of our visitors and work hard throughout the year to make sure that there are interesting activities taking place for visitors of all ages to enjoy.”

Durham Cathedral was the North East’s most visited free attraction, with an estimated 755,000 people walking through its doors. Other top five most visited free attractions in the survey were The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art; Great North Museum: Hancock; Discovery Museum and Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.

Other top five paid for attractions were Cragside; Gibside; Wallington and Adventure Valley.

Beamish has celebrated record visitors numbers for the last three years. Visitor numbers have more than doubled since 2008.

The VisitEngland report also showed visits to England’s attractions rose by two per cent in 2015, with revenue up five per cent.

The British Museum topped the list of free attractions for the eighth year, with more than 6.8 million visitors, while The Tower of London was the most visited paid-for attraction, welcoming 2.8 million people.

Tourism Minister Tracey Crouch said: “Tourism contributes around £60billion to our economy every year and these results show that the benefits of this thriving industry are being spread more evenly around the country.”

Sally Balcombe, VisitEngland Chief Executive, said: “The attractions sector is an integral part of our national tourism offer and plays a crucial role in driving economic growth across all of England’s regions.”