Visitor attraction performance

Explore insights on the annual visitor numbers for Scotland's top paid and free attractions.

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Overview

The Scottish Visitor Attraction Monitor is solely owned and distributed by the Moffat Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University.
They have given us permission to publish extracts from their annual report.
610 attraction operators provided total visit figures for both years 2024 and 2023.
Are you interested in participating in the survey or subscribing to the full publication? Please email info@moffatcentre.com.

In this article:

1. Executive summary
2. Top ten paid attractions
3. Top ten free attractions

1. Executive summary

Total visits to Scottish attractions in 2024 recorded an increase of 3.9% when compared to 2023. Total visits recorded were 49,708,483.
Visits to free Scottish attractions also saw an increase of 4.8% in 2024 compared to 2023 (31,859,344).
Visits to paid Scottish attractions rose by 2.4% in 2024 compared to 2023 (17,849,139).

© Moffat Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University

2. Top ten paid attractions (2024)

Paid attraction	Visits in 2024	Region
Edinburgh Castle	1,981,152	Edinburgh
Stirling Castle	594,938	Stirling
Edinburgh Bus Tours	563,568	Edinburgh
Edinburgh Zoo	531,557	Edinburgh
Urquhart Castle	473,814	Highlands
Culloden Visitor Centre	374,443	Highlands
The Royal Yacht Britannia	332,635	Edinburgh
Camera Obscura and World of Illusions	331,881	Edinburgh
The Glasgow Science Centre	330,536	Glasgow
Newhailes	304,111	East Lothian

3. Top ten free attractions (2024)

Free attraction	Visits in 2024	Region
National Museum of Scotland	2,314,974	Edinburgh
National Galleries of Scotland: National	1,999,196	Edinburgh
St Giles' Cathedral	1,742,147	Edinburgh
Riverside Musuem	1,273,395	Glasgow
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum	1,172,226	Glasgow
Loch Lomond Shores	1,099,738	Argyll
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh	1,041,767	Edinburgh
National War Musuem	756,200	Edinburgh
The Burrell Collection	555,888	Glasgow
Glenfinnan Monument	546,377	Highlands

(Top 10 free admission attractions does not include country park attractions)

© Moffat Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University

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