Tourists flock from across the globe to visit the historic and cultural attractions of the UK, but a new survey from Sykes Cottages reveals few of us who live here truly appreciate what’s on our doorstep.
Sykes Cottages commissioned YouGov to find out how many of us have actually visited the UK’s top attractions from a list of ten places across England, Wales and Scotland, including Buckingham Palace, Edinburgh Castle and the Eden Project.
The results revealed just 35% of respondents had visited Stonehenge in Wiltshire – one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world.
And despite the Royal Family fever that has swept the nation since the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Royal Wedding and the birth of Prince George, less than four in ten (38%) of us have visited Buckingham Palace.
Just 21% of those polled had taken a trip to visit Hadrian’s Wall in Cumbria and only 20% had visited Caernarfon Castle in Wales.
The least visited attractions on the list were the Royal Armouries in Leeds and Durham Cathedral in County Durham. More than 1 in 6 (16%) respondents had not visited any of the attractions on the list.
Tom Lowes of Sykes Cottages said: “It’s easy to take for granted what’s on your own doorstep, but it is surprising how few people have been to some of this country’s greatest attractions.
“In particular, our survey found the beautiful monuments and historic locations in the North of England had some of the lowest visitor numbers on the list. We were also surprised by how few people had visited the Eden Project in Cornwall, which is the largest indoor rainforest in the world.
“With Yorkshire being named as one of the top locations in the world to visit in 2014 by Lonely Planet, now is the time to get out and explore everything Great Britain has to offer.”
As expected, there were significant regional variations in the percentage of respondents who had visited attractions.
The West Midlands was home to one of the highest percentages of respondents (24%) who had not visited any of the places on the list.
Less than half of respondents from London (46%) said they had visited Buckingham Palace and only 56% had ever taken a trip to the National Gallery.
Full list of attractions and percentage of UK adults who have visited them
- Buckingham Palace 38%
- Edinburgh Castle 38%
- Stonehenge 35%
- The National Gallery in London 33%
- Roman Baths in Bath 29%
- Eden Project 21%
- Hadrian’s Wall 21%
- Caernarfon Castle 20%
- Durham Cathedral 16%
- The Royal Armouries in Leeds 9%.
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,105 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 29th November – 2nd December 2013. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).
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