Beamish is celebrating an increase in visitor numbers to 838,632 last year, making it the most visited attraction in the North East.
A new report from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), released today during English Tourism Week, showed that the award-winning open air museum saw an above-average five per cent rise in visitor numbers in 2024.
Rhiannon Hiles, Beamish’s Chief Executive, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to have welcomed 838,632 visitors to Beamish last year.
“We are an independent museum and attraction and this continuing increase in visitor numbers, making us the most visited attraction in the North East, is testament to the work of our fantastic staff and volunteers, who provide a first-class experience at the museum.
“We celebrated the completion of our 1950s Town last year along with the opening of our Georgian Drovers Tavern and pottery, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and are working on exciting plans for the future.
“We are incredibly proud to be part of our amazing North East, contributing to the economy and communities, and working with our partners to showcase the region as an fantastic place to live, work, visit and study in.
“We’re looking forward to continuing to welcome visitors from across the region, country and the world to experience Beamish, and have a busy programme of events planned for this year.”
The museum celebrated the completion of its Remaking Beamish project last year, the biggest capital development in its 55-year history. The project, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, included the opening of a 1950s cinema, toy shop, electrical shop and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) learning workshop. The Georgian Drovers Tavern and pottery also opened last summer in The 1820s Landscape.
Last year also saw the museum win the national Visitor Welcome Award at the Museums + Heritage Awards
This year’s programme of events at Beamish includes Easter Celebrations from 12th to 27th April, Festival of Transport 24th May to 1st June, Horses in Harness on 7th and 8th June, A Collier’s Life: At Work and Play on 5th and 6th July, Summer Fun from 19th July to 1st September, Horticultural Show in partnership with North East Horticultural Society on 6th and 7th September, Home Front Home Farm on 20th and 21st September, October Half Term from 25th October to 2nd November and Christmas at Beamish daytimes from 22nd November to 24th December (check website for full opening times).
The Beamish Unlimited Pass, which is valid for 12 months, includes daytime events.
The museum is looking forward to exciting times ahead and is working on ambitious future plans, including looking at broadening its stories and eras, enhancing visitor experiences, expanding educational initiatives, and deepening community engagement.
Beamish is an independent museum, with the income from admissions, retail and catering supporting its work to preserve the region’s heritage for future generations, while also helping today’s communities including through health and wellbeing, and learning programmes.
The ALVA report showed that the total number of visits to 400 ALVA sites in 2024 was 157.2 million, which was a 3.4 per cent increase on the previous year. The most-visited attraction in the UK was the British Museum, with 6.5million visitors, followed by the Natural History Museum (6.3million) and Windsor Great Park (5.7million).
Bernard Donoghue, Director of ALVA, said:
“For most visitor attractions 2024 was a year of steady but not significant growth. The long economic recovery from lockdown during COVID, the effects of the cost-of-living crisis on consumer spending, increasing business costs and modest inbound visitor numbers to the UK mean that 2024 was a financially changing year for visitor attractions.”
He added:
“The recovery of visitor attractions and the broader cultural and heritage economies remains fragile, but visitors have shown that in their leisure spending they still prioritise day trips to loved attractions, they are keeping up their memberships of favourite organisations and they value spending special time with special people in special places.”