Visitor Attractions Data

Each year Cumbria Tourism runs a visitor volume survey amongst visitor attractions across the county.

Looking back ten years, 32 attractions provided data in both 1998 and 2008. These attractions showed an decrease in visitor numbers over this period of time of -3.2%. More recently, there was an 7.4% increase in visitor numbers between 2000-2008 (48 attractions providing data in both years), but since then things appear to have levelled off, or even gone down slightly, as the five years between 2004-2008 show a decrease of -3.8% (68 attractions) and the last year between 2007 and 2008 there was minimal change (-0.4%, from 70 attractions).

Cumbria - Top 20 Visitor Attractions 2008 (by visitor numbers)

1. Windermere Lake Cruises in South Lakeland with 1,199,181 visitors
   
   
2. Rheged in Eden with 480,513 visitors
   
   
3. Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in Carlisle with 261,918 visitors
   
   
4. Whinlatter Forest Park & Visitor Centre in Allerdale with 181,619 visitors
   
   
5. Grizedale Forest Park and Visitor Centre in South Lakeland with 180,389 visitors
   
   
6. Carlisle Cathedral in Carlisle with 156,918 visitors
   
   
7. Theatre by the Lake in Allerdale with 115,900 visitors
   
   
8. Lake District Visitor Centre Brockhole in South Lakeland with 93,512 visitors
   
   
9. Cumberland Pencil Museum in Allerdale with 85,900 visitors
   
   
10. Muncaster in Copeland with 81,645 visitors
    
    
11. The Dock Museum in Barrow with 75,023 visitors
    
    
12. Carlisle Castle in Carlisle with 52,587 visitors
    
    
13. Lake District Coast Aquarium in Maryport, Allerdale with 45,237 visitors
    
    
14. The Beacon in Copeland with 45,141 visitors
    
    
15. Lakeland Motor Museum in South Lakeland with 41,900 visitors
    
    
16. Eden Ostrich World in Eden with 41,621 visitors
    
    
17. Homes of Football in South Lakeland with 40,000 visitors
    
    
18. Go Ape! Grizedale Forest in South Lakeland with 35,123 visitors
    
    
19. Cartmel Priory in South Lakeland with 33,890 visitors
    
    
20. Birdoswald Roman Fort in Carlisle with 33,137 visitors
    

Source: Cumbria Tourism - Visitor Attractions Monitor
(Please note this only includes visitor attractions who have provided data for 2008, and also gave permission for their figures to be published. Please note also that some visitor numbers may be estimated).