BBC News Online: UK: England

Tourists desert UK's historic sites

The Tower of London had 5% fewer visitors in 2000

Heritage sites in England attracted 54 million people last year, a decrease of 4% on the 1999 figures, according to statistics from the English Tourism Council and English Heritage.

While the smaller attractions did reasonably well, larger sites dependent on overseas visitors, fared much worse.

Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace and St Paul's Cathedral all experienced a 12% dip in visitor numbers last year, while Westminster Cathedral numbers fell by 13%.

The tourism council said the fuel crisis in September 2000 and the poor weather towards the end of the year played a part in the reduced numbers.

"Historic properties faced a challenging year in 2000," said tourism chief executive Mary Lynch.

She went on: "Almost all historic attractions felt the impact of fewer overseas visitors.

"Looking to the future it is vital that attractions seize the opportunity presented to British tourism after the events of 11 September and focus their advertising and marketing campaigns more on the domestic market."

National Lottery funding for heritage projects during 2000 topped £100m.

The Tower of London retained its position as the most popular admission-charging historic property in 2000, even though its visitor numbers dipped 5% to 2.3 million.

Gloucester Cathedral , the 20th most-visited property, had 6% more visitors in 2000 than in 1999, while 40 smaller properties increased numbers by 20% or more.