THE most visited museums and galleries in UK outside London were in Scotland, new figures show.
Museums and galleries in Scotland, according to new figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) saw a double digit rise in visitors last year.
Overall the venues saw a rise of 13.9% in visitors, compared to an increase of 7.3% in the UK overall.
In total, 129,954,657 visits were made to the top 238 ALVA sites in the UK.
The National Museum of Scotland is the most visited attraction outside London.
It is in 11th place in the UK, seeing 2,165,601 visitors and a 20% increase, and the combined total for all four National Museums Scotland sites was 3,113,178.
In 12th position was Edinburgh Castle with a 16% increase (2,063,709) making it the most visited paid for attraction in Scotland.
The four National Galleries Scotland visitor numbers were 2,564,726 with a 30% increase at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
Mary King’s Close on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh saw a 9% rise on visitor numbers to 245,700.
One of the largest increases in Scotland was Inverewe Garden in Wester Ross, which saw 109.6% increase, with Inverewe House open to the public for the first time.
Other increases included Glasgow Cathedral (36%) Stirling Castle (18%), People’s Palace Glasgow (19.34%); Culzean Castle (11.6%), Crathes Castle (23.7%) and Culloden (27.6%).
The British Museum continued to be the most popular visitor attraction overall for the 11th year running with 5,906,716 visitors and moving to 2nd place was Tate Modern with 5,656,004.
In 3rd position was the National Gallery in London with 5,229,192 visitors.
The most visited attraction in England outside London was Chester Zoo, which saw 1,866,628 visitors (13th place).
Fiona Hyslop, culture secretary, said: "Scotland boasts high-quality attractions that, as these latest figures confirm, are continuing to draw increasing numbers of visitors.
"Our tourism sector is of vital importance to Scotland’s economy.
"We have a rich heritage, a global reach and confident of our place in the world.
"We will continue to work with our tourism industry, including our visitor attractions, to make Scotland a world-class and welcoming visitor destination."
Bernard Donoghue, director of ALVA, said: "2017 was a remarkable and record-setting year for Scottish attractions.
"The fact that Scottish visitor attractions are outperforming the rest of the UK in visitor growth reflects years of strong investment by central and local government in Scotland, and by organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, in Scotland’s visitor economy and cultural landscape."
The figures may rise next year, with the opening of the V&A Dundee on September 15.
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