Visitor numbers up at Scots attractions

Scotland's key tourist attractions enjoyed a boost in visitor numbers last year, according to industry leaders.

The Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA), which compiled the data, said visits to 260 of its member sites rose for the second year.

Edinburgh Castle came out top on the list - which included both free and paid-for sights - with more than 1.5m visitors, a rise of 5.9%.

But numbers at the city's zoo saw the biggest fall, dropping by 5.7%.

Although Edinburgh Zoo was the second most popular paid-for attraction, visitors were down from 671,941 in 2014 to 633,500 in 2015.

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art saw the biggest rise in footfall, going up 40.6% from 320,605 visitors in 2014 to 457,655 in 2015.

Top paid-for visitor attractions

• Edinburgh Castle

• Edinburgh Zoo

• The Falkirk Wheel:

• National War Museum

• Edinburgh Bus Tours

• Stirling Castle

• Glasgow Science Centre

• Urquhart Castle

The organisation's annual "Visitor Trends Report" found that more than 27 million visits were made to their sites in Scotland in 2015, a rise of 3.4% on 2014 figures.

The increase came on top of a 6% rise in 2014, suggesting that visitor attractions in Scotland are currently enjoying a period of sustained growth.

Sectors which fared particularly well in 2015 included gardens (+7.5%), museums and galleries (+2.7%), castles and heritage sites (+5.1%), and boat trips/marine-related attractions (+11.9%).

Edinburgh Zoo reported a 5.7 per cent decrease in visitor numbers for 2015

The National Museum of Scotland, which had ten galleries closed for refurbishment, had a 4.4% reduction, from 1,639,574 visitors in 2014 to 1,567,31 last year.

And visitor numbers at Gretna Green's Famous Blacksmith's Shop dropped 0.9%.

Douglas Walker, Chair of ASVA said: "After a number of challenging years for the sector, it is clear that visitor attractions are entering what we hope will be a period of sustained growth.

"The attractions which have done particularly well in 2015 are those that have invested in their visitor offer by developing innovative new products and services, as well as launching creative events and exhibitions programmes, all of which are vital for keeping visitors coming back time and again."

Top free visitor attractions

• National Museum of Scotland

• Scottish National Gallery

• Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

• Riverside Museum

• St Giles' Cathedral

• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

• Gretna Green Famous Blacksmiths Shop

• Gallery of Modern Art

• Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

• The People's Palace Museum

• New Lanark World Heritage Site

• Centre for Contemporary Arts