Three of London’s top tourist attractions were hit by a fall in visitor numbers following the Paris terror attacks.
The National Gallery, Southbank Centre, and Tate Modern – which make up three of the nation’s five most popular galleries and museums – all posted significant drops in tourist visits during 2015, according to figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva).
Bernard Donoghue, director of Alva, said numbers fell following the November’s Paris attacks.
A ban on French schools taking their children on foreign trips also had an effect, as did poor weather in the UK.
Mr Donoghue told the Telegraph: "In the aftermath of the Paris attacks we surveyed our members to see if there was a ripple effect. We found that visitor numbers to city centre attractions had fallen. When there was no second attack they recovered again."
The British Museum remained the UK’s most popular attraction in 2015, with overall visits to UK attractions last year up 3.2% on 2014.
Alva said this was due to increased interest in Scottish attractions and a number of big-name exhibitions in London.
Scottish attractions saw an increase of 5.5% while London, which is home to the 10 most popular sites, reported a 1.6% rise.
Edinburgh Castle took the top spot in Scotland for the first time in five years at 1.6 million visitors.
