ALVA has released the visitor figures for 2020 and they are showing the harsh impact of the COVID-19 on the heritage visitor economy. The top 10 Historic Environment Scotland (HES) sites (for 2o2o) have dropped from just under 4.4 million visitors in 2019 to 517,210 in 2020. Edinburgh and Stirling Castles saw a fall of 87 % and Urquhart Castle saw a drop of 89 %. Some sites, unsurprisingly, given the circumstances, saw a fall of over 90 %.
Using the Top 10 visitor numbers for 2019, visitor numbers fell from 4.5 million to 512,203.
These numbers indicates the impact of the pandemic both on a specific heritage organisation as well as on the tourism sector more generally.
Heritage Futures 
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