National Churches Trust commissioned a survey to understand the reasons why the public visit churches, chapels or meeting houses and what would make them more likely to visit for tourism or leisure, with findings including that ‘half (51%) of British adults have not visited a church building, chapel, or meeting house in the past year.’
COMRES writes:
British adults are most likely to have visited a church building, chapel, or meeting house for life events (24%) or for tourism (22%) in the past year.
However, half (51%) of British adults have not visited a church building, chapel, or meeting house in the past year.
Almost a quarter (23%) of British adults would be more likely to visit a church building, chapel or meeting house as a leisure activity or tourist attraction, if there were visitor friendly facilities, whilst one in five would be more likely to visit if there were cultural events (20%) or if they knew in advance that the door of the building is unlocked for visitors (19%)
