Official Statistics

DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries annual performance indicators 2022/23: headline release

Updated 22 May 2024

Applies to England

1. Details

Release date: 14 March 2024

Next release: 2023/24

Geographic Coverage: United Kingdom

Responsible statistician: Fahim Ali

This release presents the annual performance indicator data collected by DCMS sponsored museums and galleries for the financial year 2022/23 at the national level for England. Data for individual museums and galleries are available in the accompanying tables.

The 15 DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries are:

• British Museum

• Museum of the Home

• Horniman Museum

• Imperial War Museums

• National Gallery

• National Museums Liverpool

• National Portrait Gallery

• Natural History Museum

• Royal Armouries

• Royal Museums Greenwich

• Science Museum Group

• Sir John Soane’s Museum

• Tate Gallery Group

• Victoria and Albert Museum^{[footnote 1]}

• The Wallace Collection

The performance indicators used in this publication of DCMS sponsored Museums and Galleries Performance Indicators Statistics 2022/23 are:

Access

• Number of visits to the museum/gallery

• Number of unique website visitors

Audience profile

• Number of visits by children under 16

• Number of overseas visits

Learning and outreach

• Number of facilitated and self-directed visits to the museum/gallery by visitors under 18 in formal education

• Number of instances of visitors under 18 participating in on-site organised activities

Visitor satisfaction

• Percentage of visitors who would recommend a visit

Regional engagement

• Number of UK loan venues

1.1 Self-generated income

• Self-generated income - admissions

• Self-generated income - trading income

• Self-generated income - Charitable giving (fundraising/contributed income)

Definitions for a selection of these indicators are available in the Glossary.

Data collection methods vary between institutions and performance indicators. DCMS does not prescribe  any particular collection method but provides the flexibility for museums and galleries to adopt a cost efficient data collection approach. Additional information on how the data are collected is available in the Performance Indicator Guidance.

Caution is advised when making year on year comparisons due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and associated restrictions, on visitor numbers:

• 2019/20 data was affected by the closure of museums and galleries from 17 March 2020, as coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were introduced.

• 2020/21 data was affected by the continuation and evolution of the coronavirus (COVID-19) rules, which in practice meant museums were regularly closed during this period. In periods where museums were open (for example most were open from 4 July to 5 November 2020), this was done under social distancing rules and limited capacity.

• 2021/22 data was affected by the easing of COVID-19 rules during spring and early summer 2021 (all legal restrictions were removed from 19 July 2022), plus the reimposition of some restrictions in December 2021 until February 2022. Additionally, some museums maintained their own rules around ticketed entry times and face coverings.

• 2022/23 is the first full year unaffected by pandemic restrictions, though museums are still recovering from the impacts of previous restrictions.

2. Headline findings

2.1 Access to DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries

In 2022/23, there were approximately 35.1 million visits to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries^{[footnote 2]}. This is an increase of 104.5% from 2021/22 but a decrease of 27.4% from 2018/19 (pre-pandemic), when comparing museums open in both time periods^{[footnote 3]}.

FIGURE 1: Total number of visits to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries, 2002/03 to 2022/23

Key - - - break in time series

In 2022/23, visitor numbers to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries outside London made up 15.1% of the total visits. This is a decrease of 5 percentage points compared to 2021/22 and a decrease of 8 percentage points compared to 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods. 

Visitor numbers for museums outside of London have recovered at a slower rate since the COVID-19 pandemic than those within London as shown below:

• In 2022/23, there were approximately 29.8 million visits to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries within London. This is an increase of 117.8% from 2021/22 but a decrease of 20.1% from 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

• In 2022/23, there were approximately 5.3 million visits to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries outside of London, an increase of 52.3% compared to 2021/22 but a decrease of 51.8% when compared to 2018/19. This is when comparing museums open in both time periods.

A list of the DCMS sponsored museums and galleries located outside London can be found in the strategic review of DCMS sponsored museums, page 23.

Child Visitors

In 2022/23 there were approximately 7.0 million^{[footnote 4]} visits by children (under 16) to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries, accounting for 20% of all visits. This figure is an increase of 116.7% compared to 2021/22 but a decrease of 16.5% compared to the figures recorded in 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

Overseas visitors

In 2022/23 there were an estimated 11.5 million^{[footnote 4]} visits by overseas visitors to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries. This figure is an increase of 728.3% compared to 2021/22 but a decrease of 49.5% compared to the figures recorded in 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

In 2022/23 there were an estimated 23.5 million^{[footnote 4]} visits by domestic visitors to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries. This figure is an increase of 49.5% compared to 2021/22 but a decrease of 7.7% compared to the figures recorded in 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

The increase in overseas visitors to museums mirrors the increase in overseas visitors to the UK. Annual travel estimates show that overseas residents made 35.2 million visits in 2022/23; over three times the number of visitors in 2021/22 but a decrease of 12% compared to 2018/19. 

The data shows that the proportion of overseas visitors has increased to 32.8% in 2022/23 compared to 8.1% in 2021/22 but this is a fall compared to the value of 47.2% recorded in 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

FIGURE 2: Total number of overseas and domestic visits to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries, 2018/19 to 2022/23

Website Visits

In 2022/23, there were a total of 146.5 million unique website visits to DCMS sponsored museum websites, the highest recorded since records began. This is an increase of 4.8% from 139.8 million recorded in 2021/22 and 18.9% above the 123.2 million recorded in 2018/19 (the last year unaffected by COVID-19), when comparing museums open in both time periods being compared.

2.2 Learning and outreach

Number of instances of visitors under 18 participating in on-site organised activities

In 2022/23 there were approximately 1.6 million^{[footnote 5]} visits to DCMS sponsored museums and galleries where visitors under the age of 18 participated in onsite organised activities. This is an increase of 123.0% compared to the 2021/22 figure but is a 40% decrease compared to the figures recorded in 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

Number of facilitated and self-directed visits to the museum/gallery by visitors under 18 in formal education

In 2022/23, there were approximately 1.1 million^{[footnote 6]} facilitated and self-directed visits by visitors under 18 and in formal education in 2022/23. This is an increase of 289.4% from 2021/22 but a decrease of 44.1% from 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

2.3 Visitor satisfaction

In 2022/23, an average of 93.2% of visitors reported that they would recommend a visit to the DCMS sponsored museums and galleries. This is 2.1 percentage points higher than the figure recorded in 2021/22 but 3.5 percentage points below the figure recorded in 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

2.4 Regional Engagement

UK loan venues

In 2022/23, DCMS sponsored museums and galleries loaned their items to 1,105  venues in the UK. This is an increase of 1% compared to the 1,095 loan venues in 2021/22 but a decrease of 18% compared to the 1,348 loan venues in 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

This reflects the continued impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which reduced the capacity of partners or potential partners to enter into projects both at international and regional locations (as seen in the Understanding the National Museums’ Partnership activities in 2020/21 policy paper).

Museums and galleries can loan items from their collections to institutions, organisations, exhibition facilities, or individual researchers. “By lending their collections, the national museums engage new audiences, impact on a wide range of social outcomes and support the wider museum sector.” [Museums Partnership Report: Sharing Collections 2019/20]

2.5 Self-generated Income

In 2022/23, the total self-generated income for DCMS sponsored museums and galleries amounted to over £298 million. This is an inflation adjusted increase of 26.0% over the figures recorded in 2021/22 but a decrease of 9.8% from 2018/19, when comparing museums open in both time periods.

This consisted of:

• £188.6 million (63% of total), from fundraising/contributed income, an inflation adjusted increase of 5.5% over the figures recorded in 2021/22 but is an 11.2% decrease compared to 2018/19.
• A trading net profit of £53.8 million (18% of total), an inflation adjusted increase of 120.2% over the figures recorded in 2021/22 and is a 3.8% increase compared to 2018/19.
• £56.4 million from admissions income (19% of total), an increase of 66.0% from over the figures recorded in 2021/22 but is a 16.0% decrease compared to 2018/19.

Please note that parts may not sum to total due to rounding.

The total self-generated income for DCMS sponsored museums and galleries is made up of fundraising, admissions income and trading net profit.

DCMS publishes a separate report on Total income of DCMS-funded cultural organisations, the next edition, covering the 2022/23 financial year, will be published on 14 March 2024.

3. Glossary

3.1 Number of instances of visitors under 18 participating in on-site organised activities

Organised activities refer to pre-planned, mediated activities, such as talks, lectures, courses, demonstrations, guided tours etc led by museum staff, volunteers or freelancers employed by the museum. The measure is asking for the number of total instances that children participated as distinct from the number of children participating.

3.2 Facilitated and self-directed visits

A facilitated visit is a group visit to a museum/gallery that is led or heavily supported by a member of staff (including volunteers) or a person hired by the museum e.g. an artist, for at least part of the visit. A facilitated visit is one that has been planned and structured by teachers and museum/gallery staff to support the curriculum, with specific learning outcomes.

A self-directed visit is a group visit facilitated by a person who is not a member of the museum/gallery staff.

3.3 Visitor Satisfaction

The proportion of visitors who would recommend a visit is defined as those who answered ‘How likely are you to recommend a visit to your friends or family’ with ‘definitely will’ or ‘probably will’.

3.4 Loan venue

A loan venue is defined as any approved borrowing institution, organisation, exhibition facility, or individual researcher who has been loaned an item from one of the DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries. Loaning items from permanent collections is not practical for every museum or gallery.

For more detail on museum partnership activities see the museum partnership report.

4. Further information

Sponsored Museums: Performance Indicators is an Official Statistic and has been produced to the standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Additional information is available here.

The data are collected by the museums through sample surveys, with the exception of the information on physical visits and website visits, which are based on actual counts.

For enquiries on this release, please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk

DCMS statisticians can also be followed on X via @DCMSInsight.

For general enquiries contact:

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

100 Parliament Street

London

SW1A 2BQ

Telephone: 020 7211 2210.

Email: enquiries@dcms.gov.uk

1. The V&A museum site in Dundee is operated as a separate charity to the main V&A museum group. As such, its figures are excluded from this publication and data set. ↩

2. The latest statistics on the monthly and quarterly visitor figures for each DCMS-sponsored museum or gallery can be accessed from the Museum and galleries monthly visits webpage. ↩

3. The following museums were closed during the time periods being compared and are excluded in calculations for those time periods: Museum of the Home (January 2018 to June 2021), National Portrait Gallery (June 2020 to June 2023). Some parts of the V&A (Young V&A and Blythe House) were closed from 2020/21 onwards but are included as data is provided for the V&A overall. ↩

4. When calculating proportions of total visits for visitor sub-groups (child and overseas visitors), the Museum of the Home and the National Portrait Gallery have been excluded because were both closed throughout the reporting period. The National Coal Mining Museum England has also been excluded because only total visitor numbers are collected and not disaggregations by visitor characteristics. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Figures and percentage changes from the Museum of the Home and the National Portrait Gallery have been excluded from educational visits, where under 18 year old visitors participated in onsite organised activities, because were both closed throughout the reporting period. ↩

6. Figures and percentage changes from the Museum of the Home and the National Portrait Gallery have been excluded from the visitor satisfaction indicator because they were both closed throughout the reporting period. ↩