The UK attractions sector welcomed a 7.2 per cent rise in visitor numbers in 2016, new data from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) indicates.

According to association, which represents more than 2,200 tourist sites across the UK, more than 130 million visits were made to country’s top locations.

Nearly 70 million people – more than the total population of the UK – visited attractions in London last year, and therefore it is no surprise that the top 10 most visited attractions were all London based.

The British Museum continued to be the most popular visitor attraction overall for the 10th year running with 6.4 million visitors, and remaining in second place was the National Gallery with 6.3 million visitors – seeing a six per cent increase.

Third place was achieved by the Tate Modern, which saw 5.8 million visitors; the Natural History Museum moved to fourth place; and Southbank Centre was fifth.

The most visited attraction outside London was Chester Zoo, which saw a 12 per cent increase and remained in 12th place, while in 15th place was the most visited attraction in Scotland – the National Museum of Scotland – which opened 10 new galleries in 2016.

Commenting on ALVA’s latest industry data, the association’s director, Bernard Donoghue, said: “Many of our members in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Cornwall had record years in 2016, although the first nine months of 2016 were unquestionably hard for our members, particularly in London, for many reasons.

“However, by the end of the year nearly all attractions were reporting growth from visitors from overseas and the rest of the UK.”