The DCMS has released annual performance indicator data collected by DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries for the financial year 2019/20 at the national level for England.

In 2019/20, there were 47.6 million visits to DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries, an increase of 41.7% from 33.6 million visits in 2002/03 when records began (Figure 1), but a decrease of 4.4% from 2018/19 (the year with the highest number of visitors recorded for the current portfolio of museums).

Museums and galleries were closed during lockdown from 17th March, 2019. Visitor numbers in March 2020 were 63.4% lower than in March 2019. Total visitors for the year excluding March 2020 (April 2019 to February 2020) were 46.0 million, an increase of 1.0% on the same period in the previous year.

Based on these data it appears that lockdown measures changed the trend of total museum visitor numbers from increasing to decreasing between 2018/19 and 2019/20.

Total visits to sponsored museums and galleries have levelled out from a high point of over 50 million in 2014/15. The group of sponsored museums has changed over this period, in particular with the Museums of Science and Industry aggregated within the Science Museum Group from 2011/12, Royal Armouries White Tower included from 2011/12, and Tyne & Wear venues no longer included from April 2015.

The total self-generated income for DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries was £315 million, an increase of 9.0% from £289 million in 2018/19. These data have not been adjusted for inflation.

Of the total visits, 16.6% were made by children under the age of 16. 50.8% were made by overseas visitors.

More information, covering access, audience profile, learning and outreach, visitor satisfaction, regional engagement and self-generatedincome is available on the DCMS website here.

 
Illustration: The Science Museum, London, as seen from Exhibition Road. Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Shadowssettle. The file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Size was adjusted to 600px x 480px.