Tourism in England

The British Museum, England's single most visited site.
Stonehenge, a World Heritage Site in Wiltshire.
The interior of Wembley Stadium, the most expensive stadium ever built.
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 England a popular tourist destination, particularly in London. (See Tourism in London).

Heritage 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).[2] 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". [3]

England possesses some unique natural environments, and continues to benefit from a significant Ecotourism industry:

Most visited sites

The Minster in York, was the second most visited city in the 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 		Location Visitor count (2014) (overseas visitors)[4]
1
 London 17,404,000
2
 Manchester 994,000
3
 Birmingham

944,000

4
 Liverpool 605,000
5
 Oxford 489,000
6
 Bristol 446,000
7
 Brighton and Hove 423,000
8
 Cambridge 418,000
9
 Leeds 370,000
10
 York 311,000
11
 Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 243,000
12
 Bath 236,000
13
 Nottingham 218,000

Most visited historic sites

National
Rank 		Site Location Visitor count (2009)[5]
1
 Tower of London London 2,389,548
2
 St Paul's Cathedral London 1,821,321
3
 Westminster Abbey London 1,449,593
4
 Roman Baths Bath 1,196,481
5
 Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury 1,013,118
6
 Stonehenge Amesbury 990,705
7
 Palace of Westminster London 963,362
8
 York Minster York 797,100
9
 Chatsworth House Chatsworth 652,969
10
 Leeds Castle Maidstone 646,801
11
 Hampton Court Palace London 541,646
12
 Blenheim Palace Woodstock 537,120
13
 Portsmouth Historic Dockyard Portsmouth 532,158
14
 Stourhead Mere 356,816
15
 Beaulieu Palace House and Abbey Beaulieu 351,975

Most visited museums

List of tourist attractions

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Visitor numbers reach seven year high". shakespeare.org.uk. 21 February 2012.
  2. ↑ "Manchester 'England's second city'". BBC News. 12 September 2002.
  3. ↑ Billy Bryson. The Road to Little Dribbling. Black Swan Press. 2015. p. 58.
  4. ↑ "Town Data: VisitBritain Corporate Site". VisitBritain. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "VISITS MADE IN 2009 TO VISITOR ATTRACTIONS IN MEMBERSHIP WITH ALVA". Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for England.
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