Business is booming, but museums say free entry is a blessing with a heavy price

The abolition of admission fees to national museums has been an unqualified success, government figures published yesterday suggest.

In the year since the initiative began, visitor numbers have increased by an average of 70 per cent. And at the Science and Victoria and Albert (V&A) museums attendances have more than doubled, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, hailed the figures as proof that the Government's policy had successfully opened the country's finest attractions to everyone, regardless of their income.

But there are those in the museum world who will not be welcoming with open arms the flood of people visiting Britain's national treasures. Institutions such as the Natural History Museum feel the surge in visitors is placing an intolerable financial burden upon them.

There will also be question marks over whether the increase in numbers means one of the policy's critical aims – to attract people from poorer communities and ethnic minorities – is being met, or whether the influx is made up regular visitors making more frequent trips.

The numbers are impressive. The popularity of the V&A, up 111 per cent, the Science Museum, up 100 per cent and the Natural History Museum, up 81 per cent, is spectacular.

Outside London attendances have increased by an average of 55 per cent, with a 79 per cent rise at the National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside (NMGM).

Ms Jowell said the figures were a "clear rebuttal to those who say the people of this country are not interested in 'serious' culture and learning".

She said the Government was committed to continuing free admission and had made extra funds available to allow it to continue. "This success is being realised both in London and across the English regions," she said. "The truth is, now entry fees have been swept away, our museums have been attracting many people for the first time. No longer is income an obstacle to enjoying the riches of our cultural heritage."

The figures do not counter the criticisms of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee last month that said more needed to be done to entice poorer people and ethnic minorities into museums. The committee also found the biggest rise in visitors came from existing audiences, and the rise was putting pressure on staffing and maintenance costs.

The Natural History Museum warned in October it would reintroduce admission charges if the Government did not increase its funding, because the need to provide more staff to deal with the rise in visitors had left it £500,000 over budget.

Sir Neil Chalmers, the museum's director, said: "We are very pleased more visitors have flocked to the Natural History Museum since free entry was introduced – we look forward to this continuing. But to remain free it is essential core funding for the museum is kept at sufficient levels in real terms – to compensate for the loss of income from admissions charges.

"We also believe that the DCMS, galleries and museums should look at barriers other than entry price in order to encourage a wider section of the community to visit a museum or gallery."

The museum said yesterday the amount spent by each visitor in the museum's gift shops and restaurants had almost halved from £2.81 to £1.51 since admission charges were scrapped – fuelling suspicions the increase was due to existing visitors returning more often. The museum saw its annual visitor numbers increase from 1.7 million to 3 million since the abolition of admission charges.

A spokeswoman for the Natural History Museum added: "We have found visitors are now spending less time in the museum and are not spending as much money while they are here. Meanwhile we have to employ more staff in order to cope with the increase in visitors, which can be very expensive."

Stephen Bromberg, a spokesman for the Science Museum, said: "In terms of getting more people through our doors, the policy has certainly been very effective." He refused to comment on concerns that the doubling of visitor numbers from 1.3 to 2.6 million was partly caused by repeat visits by museum regulars.

But several institutions did declare the scrapping of admission charges an unequivocal success. Research by the V&A found 42 per cent of its 2.4 million visitors under free admission were first timers, compared with 33 per cent of 1.1 million visitors in 2001.

Mark Jones, the museum's director, said: "These are the highest figures in the V&A's history, with more than 2 million visitors, and show that free entry has been a resounding success. We have more than doubled our visitor figures in the year since we introduced free entry. More people are visiting the V&A for the first time and more people are making return visits to enjoy our collections and exhibitions."

David McDonnell, chairman of the board of trustees of NMGM, described the reinstatement of free admission to all its eight venues as "the most welcome development" adding: "It [the reinstatement of free admission] overcame the absurdity of Merseyside's national museums being forced to charge visitors in order to reclaim tax liabilities.

"We have never been wedded to admission charges and originally introduced them in desperation as the only means to balance our books at a time of government parsimony. We welcome the changes that have led to their removal and have noticed considerable increases in attendances as a direct consequence."

Last year's increase in visitor numbers has more than reversed the drastic decline caused by the introduction of admission charges in the 1980s for most institutions.

The Natural History Museum had 2.5 million visitors in 1986-87 before compulsory charges, 1.6 million in 1988-89 and 1.8 million in 1996-97.

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, south-east London, had 798,682 in 1983-84 before charges, 528,000 the next year and 467,794 in 1996-97.

The Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, north London, had 323,000 in 1986-87, introduced charges in 1988 and was down to 135,344 in 1996-97 but reached 1.2 million last year.

The V&A had 1,577,608 in 1984-85, introduced voluntary donations in 1985 and dropped to 1,003,306 in 1986-87, introduced compulsory charges in November 1996 and had 1.2 million visitors in 1996-97.

The Science Museum has yet to recapture the 3,166,294 visitors it had in 1987-88. The museum introduced charges in 1988, saw 1,121,103 pass through its doors in 1989-90, and 1,548,366 in 1996-97.

But the impact on some institutions has been less pronounced. Visitors to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, south London, rose by only 11 per cent.

And visitors who wanted to attend many of last year's principal exhibitions still found they had to pay. The Science Museum charged £5.95 for Grossology, an irreverent look at the science of the human body, and £7.95 to see the science behind James Bond films. The Natural History Museum charged £3.50 for its Dinobirds exhibition and the V&A's Versace retrospective cost £7.