The world's most popular museums see millions of visitors each year. While there is something to be found for everyone in museum hot spots like China, the U.S. East Coast or Europe - as identified by the 2021 Theme Index and Museum Index by TEA and AECOM - different continents have different preferences when it comes to getting their museum fix.
Art museums reign supreme in Europe, with the Louvre in French capital Paris and the Tate Modern in London having seen an annual average of around 4 and 3 million visitors, respectively, in past years even when taking the Covid-19 pandemic into account. Around an annual average of 3 million also visited the Vatican Museums during this time frame, which include art galleries and historical artefact exibits as well as ornate historical buildings like the Sistine Chapel. The British Museum, which saw about as many visitors, is also a mixed art and history museum.
Over in Asia, the mix of art and historical artefacts which is often employed for national museums is also popular. In the given time frame, the National Museum of China and the Nanjing Museum saw 3.8 million and 2.6 million visitors each year on average, placing them among the most visited museums in the Asia-Pacific region. The other two most-visited museums in Asia are of a different breed: The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing also received between 2 and 3 million visitors each.
Visitor numbers were a little lower in the U.S. over the past couple of years. Yet, between 2.2 and 3.3 million people per year were keen to catch exhibits at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, respectively. Around 1.3 million and 1.9 million per year visited science and technology exhibits at the National Air and Space Museum and collections at the National Museum of Natural History. Both museums are also located in the U.S. capital.