Tourism in England

The British Museum, England's single most visited site.
Stonehenge, a World Heritage Site in Wiltshire.
Canterbury Cathedral.
The historic 'Old Portsmouth'.
Durham Cathedral, a World Heritage Site.

Tourism plays a significant part in the economic life of England.

Cultural and heritage tourism

England's long history and pervasive culture, spread worldwide through the English language and colonialism, make it (and especially London) a popular tourist destination.

Heritage towns and cities in England

Other places in England are also of historical interest. The city of Manchester is the second most visited city by foreign tourists in England after London (in a survey from 2002).[1] Many foreign tourists also visit the neighbouring countries, Scotland and Wales – see tourism in Scotland and tourism in Wales.

Domestic tourists, and foreign tourists who have specific interests in art, music, history etc., also visit the following:

Ecotourism

The Eden Project is the world's largest greenhouse

The English countryside has been described as particularly suitable to ecotourism, if affected by the sad irony "that the things that make the landscape of Britain comely and distinctive are almost entirely no longer needed. Hedgerows, country churches, stone barns, verges full of nodding wildflowers and birdsong, sheep roaming over wind-swept fells, village shops and post office and much more can only rarely be justified on economic grounds, and for most people in power those are the only things that matter". [2]

England possesses a wide range of natural environments, and continues to benefit from a significant Ecotourism industry:

Most visited sites

York Minster, the eighth-most visited historic site in England
St Paul's Cathedral in London is the country's most visited religious building.
The city of Bath has some of the best preserved Roman architecture in England.

Most visited cities by tourists

National
Rank		LocationVisitor count (2016) (overseas visitors)[3]
1
London19,500,000
2
Manchester1,191,000
3
Birmingham

1,115,000

4
Liverpool671,000
5
Oxford586,000
6
Bristol600,000
7
Cambridge498,000
8
Brighton and Hove465,000
9
Leeds331,000
10
Bath331,000
11
Nottingham304,000
12
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne296,000
13
York265,000
14
Reading245,000
15
Leicester229,000

Most visited historic sites

National
Rank		SiteLocationVisitor count (2009)[4]
1
Tower of LondonLondon2,389,548
2
St Paul's CathedralLondon1,821,321
3
Westminster AbbeyLondon1,449,593
4
Roman BathsBath1,196,481
5
Canterbury CathedralCanterbury1,013,118
6
StonehengeAmesbury990,705
7
Palace of WestminsterLondon963,362
8
York MinsterYork797,100
9
Chatsworth HouseChatsworth652,969
10
Leeds CastleMaidstone646,801
11
Hampton Court PalaceLondon541,646
12
Blenheim PalaceWoodstock537,120
13
Portsmouth Historic DockyardPortsmouth532,158
14
StourheadMere356,816
15
Beaulieu Palace House and AbbeyBeaulieu351,975

Most visited museums

List of tourist attractions

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Manchester 'England's second city'". BBC News. 12 September 2002.
  2. ↑ Billy Bryson. The Road to Little Dribbling. Black Swan Press. 2015. p. 58.
  3. ↑ "Town Data: VisitBritain Corporate Site". VisitBritain. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "VISITS MADE IN 2009 TO VISITOR ATTRACTIONS IN MEMBERSHIP WITH ALVA". Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
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