Tourism tally reveals North East visitor picture
Visitor figures roll in for the region's attractions. Tony Henderson reports
The ups and downs of visitor figures for the North East’s leading attractions are revealed in a national countdown covering 2025.
The league table of a total of 412 locations comes from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA). The total number of visits to 409 ALVA sites in 2025 was 165 million, which was a 2% increase on the previous year.
The highest placed attraction in the region at 46th in the table is Beamish Museum, with 815,075 visitors last year – down by 3% on 2024, followed by Durham Cathedral at 118th with 397,249 in 2025, a rise of 1% on the previous year.
Tynemouth Priory and Castle saw an increase of 73% with 52,028 visitors in 2025, which was due to the Mouth of the Tyne Festival, with the attendance at the 2024 event not being counted.
Forestry England Hamsterley, the biggest forest in County Durham where there are plans to expand visitor facilities, came in at 178, attracting 241,696 visitors – an increase of 37% on 2024.
Kielder in Northumberland at 287th also saw a visitor increase of 13% to 68,515.
Visitor figures steamed ahead at Locomotion Museum in Shildon amid last year’s celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The museum is in 194th position with a 33% increase in visitors to 218,907.
There was another steaming success at the Stephenson Railway Museum in North Tyneside, which registered a 16% rise to 27,536.
According to ALVA, The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle saw a fall of 48% in attendances but Keith Merrin, director, North East Museums, said: “Footfall in 2025 was slightly down versus 2024 for North East Museums but this can largely be attributed to the huge success of the Turner: Art, Industry & Nostalgia exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery in 2024 which attracted over 40,000 visits.
The event featured Turner’s famous painting The Fighting Temeraire.
“We have had a very busy start to 2026 with footfall up 17% for January and February across North East Museums venues and we have a packed programme of exhibitions and events coming up,” said Mr Merrin.
Other 2025 visitor numbers were:
Hardwick Country Park, County Durham 321,116, up 5%;
Cragside 289,502 +13%;
Wallington 282,176 +8%;
Gibside 236,467 +2%;
Great North Museum 228,024 -3%;
Discovery Museum 179,312 +3%;
Belsay Hall 167,266 +5%;
Housteads Roman fort 75,411 -32%;
South Shields Museum 72,282 -8%;
WWT Washington 67,485 +1%;
Lindisfarne Priory 59,547 –11%;
Warkworth Castle 55,144 –1%;
Segedunum Roman Fort 29,860 +6%;
Hatton Gallery 19,673 -2%;
Shipley Art Gallery 17,264 -6%;
Arbeia Roman fort 16,868 -13%.
Bernard Donoghue, director of ALVA, said: “Visitor attractions are the places that people prize most and provide the experiences that people, even in a cost-of-living crisis, are most loathe to give up.
“In a time of unpredictable futures, uncertain economics, global insecurities, economic challenges, and an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the public are more tactical than ever in deciding how they spend their leisure pounds and their leisure hours.
“Their expectations of a great visit are higher now than they have ever been. The day trip to an attraction now competes within the family budget with free things to do, as well as subscriptions to streaming channels. The competition has never been greater, the choice never so broad.”