Blackpool tops free visitor attraction list
The average cost of visitor attractions in England in 2005 was less than £5, according to the latest Visits to Visitor Attractions survey by VisitBritain, with free attractions pulling in millions of visitors.
Blackpool Pleasure Beach remained the country's most popular free attraction, with six million visitors in 2005, followed by the British Museum, which attracted 4.6 million visitors and Brighton Pier, with 4.6 million.
More than one third of the 2,111 attractions surveyed do not charge for entry.
Visitors are still prepared to pay for the right attraction, however, with British Airways London Eye topping the paid for attractions with 3.25 million visitors, along with Wakefield's Xscape Castleford, where a mix of indoor sports, games and cinema are estimated to have pulled in similar numbers.
Attractions outside the capital grew ahead of the market, with those in Yorkshire and the Humber showing visitor increase of 8% over 2004's figures and visitors to attractions in the east of the country up 5%.
Top 10 free attractions in England
| Attraction | Visitors (millions) |
| Blackpool Pleasure Beach](http://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/) | 6.0 |
| [British Museum, London](http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/) | 4.5 (estimate) |
| [Brighton Pier](http://www.brightonpier.co.uk/) | 4.5 (estimate) |
| [National Gallery, London](http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/) | 4.2 (estimate) |
| [Tate Modern, London](http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/) | 3.9 |
| [Natural History Museum, London](http://www.nhm.ac.uk/) | 3.1 |
| [Science Museum, London](http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/) | 2.0 |
| Upper Derwent Reservoirs, Derbyshire | 2.0 (estimate) |
| [Victoria and Albert Museum, London](http://www.vam.ac.uk/) | 1.9 |
| [Tate Britain, London](http://www.tate.org.uk/) | 1.7 |
Top 10 paid for attractions in England
| Attraction | Visitors (million) |
| [British Airways London Eye](http://www.londoneye.com/) | 3.3 |
| Xscape Castleford, West Yorkshire | 3.3 (estimate) |
| [Tower of London](http://www.camelotintl.com/tower_site/) | 1.9 |
| [Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo, North Yorkshire](http://www.flamingoland.co.uk/ ) | 1.4 (estimate) |
| [Pleasure Beach, Norfolk](http://www.pleasure-beach.co.uk/) | 1.4 (estimate) |
| Kew Gardens, Greater London | 1.4 |
| [Windermere Lake Cruises, Cumbria](http://www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk/) | 1.3 |
| [New Metroland, Tyne and Wear](http://www.metroland.uk.com/) | 1.3 (estimate) |
| [Drayton Manor Family Theme Park, Staffordshire](http://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/) | 1.2 |
| [Eden Project, Cornwall](http://www.edenproject.com/) | 1.2 |
By Matthew Batham
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