- National museums draw millions of visitors and add over £1
billion a year to the economy
Everyone will continue to enjoy universal free admission to our
world class national museums in England, the Government has
confirmed.
Free entry to museums was introduced in 2001. Earlier this year
the government committed to working with the museum and tourism
sectors, and local leaders, to explore whether charging overseas
visitors could help museums' finances, as part of the response to
Baroness
Hodge's review of Arts Council England published in December
2025.
The government believes that charging overseas visitors could
deter domestic visitors and that the impacts and benefits of
charging would not be felt equally across the sector and
therefore will not introduce charges for overseas visitors.
National museums also add more than £1 billion a year to the
economy and bring in visitors from around the world. Seven of the
UK's ten most visited museums are national museums.
In 2025, 7.1 million people visited the Natural History Museum
and 6.4 million visited the British Museum.
The £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund is providing £760 million
for museums, £600 million of infrastructure funding is supporting
national museums and DCMS sponsored cultural organisations to
address critical maintenance and works to estates, and enable
these institutions to deliver on their commitments to share their
collections and expertise nationally, drawing in visitors from
around the world.
A further £160 million is being invested in our local and
regional museums. The Museum Estates and Development Fund will
help museums tackle maintenance backlogs, and the £13.6 million
Museum Transformation programme will support organisations to
move towards more sustainable business models.
In addition, the government will work with Arts Council and the
sector to develop a long-term strategic plan for the future of
museums. Further details will be released in due course.
