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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent

Tate director blames Brexit and Covid for slump in visitors

Exterior of the Tate Modern.
Domestic visitor numbers are close to pre-Covid levels, but overseas visits remain down by nearly 40% Photograph: Justin Kase zsixz/Alamy

The Tate galleries in London are struggling to attract young European visitors after Brexit and the pandemic, with the art institution’s leader blaming the demographic shift for a steep decline in attendance figures.

Maria Balshaw, the director of Tate, said the impact of Covid and leaving the EU was keeping 16- to 24-year-olds away from the two sites in the capital. Annual attendance data from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva) released in March showed that Tate Modern and Tate Britain had a 27% decline in attendance since 2019 – a drop of 2.2 million visitors.

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