The 'thoughtful' Scottish attraction celebrating 'record-breaking year' with almost 2m visitors

The National Galleries Scotland is celebrating a “record-breaking year”, with a 9 per cent increase in visitors to its National gallery to almost two million last year.

The National, formerly known as the Scottish National Gallery, rose to the 14th most visited free attraction across the UK in 2024, beaten in Scotland only by the National Museum of Scotland, which moved up one place to 11th and recorded a 6 per cent increase to 2.3m.

The National | Getty Images

Scotland overall saw a 3.2 per cent increase in visitors to its attractions, according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), tied with Northern Ireland. London recorded a 3 per cent rise.

UK-wide, the sector is still performing below its pre-Covid peak, as overseas visitor numbers remain lower than before the pandemic and people are tightening their belts due to the rising cost of living.

Edinburgh Castle remained the most visited paid-for attraction in Scotland. | AFP via Getty Images

Edinburgh Castle continued to be the most visited paid for attraction in Scotland with a 4 per cent increase in visitors to 1,981,152. The largest percentage increase in Scotland was Craigievar Castle in Aberdeenshire, which also re-opened after a period of closure due to repairs until August 2023, with the historic attraction recording a 285 per cent increase. This moved the castle 21 places to 321st after welcoming 32,852 visitors.

The number of visitors to Caerlaverock Castle in Dumfries, which is operated by Historic Environment Scotland, more than doubled, with a 114 per cent increase – moving 13 places to 313th place with 39,692 visitors.

Caerlaverock Castle is one of a host of Historic Environment Scotland properties currently closed to visitors.

UK-wide, the most-visited attraction for the second year in a row was the British Museum, followed by the Natural History Museum, both in London and both with an 11 per cent rise in visitors compared to the previous year.

The National Galleries Scotland unveiled a £38.6 million refurbishment in September 2023, which more than doubled the space for displays.

Bernard Donoghue, director and chief executive of ALVA, said Scotland’s best performing attractions had brought in new visitors with “really good, thoughtful, creative programming”, as well as visitors returning to places which had been shuttered for refurbishment.

He said: “The National Galleries have reopened and they had a record-breaking year. I think that was absolutely people wanting to come back to see the re-presented, refreshed, rehung gallery.”

Mr Donoghue added: “There is definitely a novelty effect, people wanting to see going back to their favourite place and see how it's changed and improved. So that's a that's a really big significant thing.

“But also, with with the National Gallery this time around, it was also the change in emphasis, and marketing and programming work, which which all communicated ‘everyone is welcome, come as you are’, and that really enticed and invited in new audiences who had never been before.”

Anne Lyden, director general of the National Galleries of Scotland, which comprises the National, the Portrait, and Modern One and Modern Two galleries, said: “We’re elated that the National Galleries of Scotland were able to achieve such incredible visitor numbers in 2024 with over 2.6 million people visiting our Edinburgh galleries, especially in what is becoming an increasingly challenging financial landscape for the arts.”

She said the galleries’ coming exhibitions, including those focused on Andy Goldsworthy, Ian Hamilton Findlay and the history of King James VI in an exhibition to mark his 400th anniversary, would continue to entertain visitors.