The Covid-19 pandemic slashed annual visitors to the Roman Baths by nearly 73% last year compared to 2019, sending it tumbling to 51st place in the table of most-visited UK attractions.
According to the latest figures from the Association for Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) released today, outdoor attractions such as gardens, parks, forests and zoos reaped the benefits as those predominately indoors were forced to close for long periods or reduce their opening hours.
And even when the Roman Baths and Pump Room were allowed to open, visitor numbers were limited to help the public and staff stay safe.
According to ALVA, the Baths were closed completely for 136 days last year, pushing down total visitor numbers for the year to 351,65 from more than 1.3m in 2019.
The massive fall was partly due to tough restrictions on foreign travel as the number of overseas visitors to the attraction slumped from about 40% of the total number in 2019 to just 5% last year.
This meant that the Baths dropped down the listing of most-visited attractions over the course of the pandemic from number 25 in 2019 and number 32 in 2020 to 51 last year.
ALVA said this was in line with overall trends during the Covid-19 pandemic, with outdoor attractions dominating its most-visited list, while indoor attractions and those that usually rely on overseas visitors falling down the rankings.
The most-popular attraction was Windsor Great Park, with 5.4m visitors last year. The Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Chester Zoo were second the third respectively.
Despite today’s lifting of all travel restrictions on overseas visitors to the UK, tourism body VisitBritain fears international tourism will take several years to return to its pre-pandemic levels.
Bath & North East Somerset Council cabinet member for children and young people, communities and culture Cllr Dine Romero said the results were a sobering reminder of the ongoing impact that Covid-19, and the restrictions associated with managing the pandemic, continue to have on Bath’s economy.
“The Roman Baths was sold out for much of the period that it was able to open,” she said.
“And over the past year it has been wonderful to see domestic visitors eager to visit the Baths and explore the ancient site; this indicates that the restrictions, which were essential to keep staff, visitors and residents safe, limited our rate of recovery last year.
“Nevertheless, the visitor demand points to the enduring popularity of the Roman Baths as one of the country’s leading visitor attractions and we hope to see a strong recovery in 2022.
“We are already starting to see the gradual return of international visitors and the green shoots of recovery although it will be a couple of years before we return to pre-pandemic levels.”
The total number of visits to ALVA’s 306 sites last year was 67.8m – a 25% increase on the previous year but an annual decline of 57% on the 156.6m visits in 2019.
