May 2025 results from the Cultural Enterprises Commercial Performance Barometer have been published on our dashboard, and we’re delighted to have achieved a record number of responses. Thank you to all of you that took part.
We are pleased to share a relatively positive picture with May admissions up 1% on 2024. This is by no means a significant jump, but after such a rocky first quarter, it’s a relief to report a second consecutive month of positive numbers. Unlike April, there are no differences between indoor and outdoor venues, although there is a suggestion that free venues did slightly better.
The mood amongst cultural organisations is also on the up, with 53% describing their May as excellent or good, and 54% optimistic for the next 12 months.
Continuing a theme so far this year, catering is performing relatively well, with the median average transaction value and spend per visitor both +4%. That said, with ‘food and beverage inflation’ also at 4%, it’s clear there is little margin for error.
Retail continues to perform above 2024 in nominal terms, but at just +2%, both spend per visitor and average transaction value, sit slightly below inflation. As reported last month, it would appear that whilst the public are still getting their culture fix, they may be cutting back on non-essential spending when doing so. Commercially-minded programming is one good way to overcome retail spend reservations. A number of organisations who report above-inflation retail figures, attribute this to products linked to time-limited exhibitions.
To end on another positive, this month’s special question taught us that venue hire sales so far this year, are up on 2024 – 48% describing them as better, and just 20% as worse (33% as the same). We recommend taking a look at our Foundling Museum case study to learn more about beast practice in this area.
The picture we’re seeing in May aligns closely with VisitEngland’s recently published Annual Attractions Survey 2024, which reported a 1.4% overall increase in visits to English attractions last year. However the sector is still still 27% down on 2019 levels, with museums, galleries, and heritage finding it harder to rebound than other visitor attractions. The report suggests that recovery has “levelled off,” but signs of resilience remain, especially as revenue has also grown due to increased spend per visitor. Our Barometer figures, showing a cautious trend in 2025 so far of small but positive admissions growth and improved sentiment among cultural organisations, echo this theme in the face of ongoing cost and footfall pressures.
The wider sector context underlines the challenges and opportunities that many attractions are navigating. VisitEngland’s survey reveals that while total visits grew just slightly, gross revenue increased by 8%, largely driven by above-inflation admission price rises.
As the report notes:
“… gross revenue has recovered more quickly than visitor admissions, and is now on an even stronger growth trajectory than before the pandemic. Above inflationary increases in admission fees will be contributing to this. The increase in staff wages, energy bills, supplier costs etc. during 2023-24 means that, despite the increase in revenue, the increase in profit margins is likely to be more modest.”
Our own research shows that commercial activity is now the largest source of income in the cultural sector, making up 40% of total turnover in 2023-24.
However, the VisitEngland figures also highlight ongoing cost pressures — with 76% of attractions affected by rising supplier costs and 63% by rising staff costs. Despite this, there were notable areas of resilience: museums and galleries showed signs of recovery in 2024, overseas visits rose by 6%, and larger attractions continued to see the strongest performance, with London performing better than the average. Notably, both free and paid sites reported similar revenue growth for the first time since 2019, pointing to a broadly stable — if hard-earned — recovery across the board.
While DCMS recently announced some capital investment projects, their day-to-day spending will fall by 1.2% annually, highlighting the increasing important of self-generated income, and entrepreneurial thinking in the sector.
Where to find out more
Cultural Enterprises members can learn much more via our online dashboard where you can filter results by sub-group and merge months. We have now had more than 200 sites contributing to the Barometer (May was our best month yet), and we’re looking forward to continuing to grow this service in the coming months. Members can expect the latest survey invite on the first Monday of each month.
For more information about our monthly Commercial Performance Barometer service please contact tom@culturalenterprises.org.uk or jon.young@decisionhouse.co.uk.
