Britain’s ‘staycation’ summer season has provided a huge bonus to many leading UK attractions, with several of the National Trust properties experiencing an unexpected windfall.

The summer boom was brought about primarily by the recession which led to many vacationers choosing to see Britain’s local sights rather than the traditional sojourns abroad. In the four month period from May to August overall visitor numbers increased by 3.4% compared to last year. The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) also revealed that many gardens and museums experienced record visitor numbers.

One of the biggest to benefit was London’s National Portrait Gallery which saw a whopping 23% increase in numbers compared to the similar period in 2008.

The National Portrait Gallery in London enjoyed a 23% rise in visitor numbers in June-August compared with the same period in 2008.

The gallery attributed its success to more local visitors but also to record numbers attending the 2009 BP Portrait Awards. The award, won by artist Peter Monkman, led the gallery to a 69% growth in numbers from last year.

Elsewhere, the Royal Horticultural Society reported that visitors to its four garden destinations; Hyde Hall in Essex, Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire, Wisley in Surrey and Rosemoor in Devon saw an overall increase of 15%.

The National Trust revealed an 8.3% increase in July visitors this year as compared to 2008 while August saw a rise of over 12%. One of the most popular zoos in the country, Chester Zoo, has already seen visitor numbers pass the one million mark in the year to date.

The figures are a welcome bonus for ALVA who earlier this year was reluctant to forecast such a rise as the effects of the recession impacted on all areas of the tourism industry. While ALVA did predict a rise in staycations, the numbers seen at its 1598 tourist sites across the UK have exceeded expectations.