The Louvre is extraordinary. It is also, by a significant margin, not the world’s most-visited cultural institution. Beijing’s Palace Museum recorded 19 million visits in 2025 — more than double Paris’s most famous landmark — according to the TEA Global Experience Index. The rankings have landed, and they reshape the map of global cultural tourism in ways that are difficult to dismiss.
The Numbers Running Out of Beijing Are Hard to Argue With
China claimed 12 of the top 20 spots in 2025, as collective attendance across the full ranking climbed to 161.4 million visits.
The TEA index casts a wider net than a traditional museum ranking — worth noting upfront. It includes historic palaces and curated heritage sites alongside conventional institutions. Even with that broader definition, the numbers are striking: the top 20 drew 161.4 million visits in 2025, up 5.4% from 2024. Sixteen of the 20 institutions grew their attendance year-on-year.
Five data points that reframe the conversation:
- Palace Museum, Beijing: 19 million visits (No. 1)
- Summer Palace, Beijing: 17.38 million (No. 2)
- Louvre, Paris: 9.046 million (No. 4, highest outside China)
- British Museum, London: 6.44 million (No. 13)
- The Met, New York: 5.984 million (No. 17, the only North American entry)
The Palace Museum isn’t a building — it’s closer to a small city. Completed in 1420, the complex served as home to 24 Ming and Qing emperors before opening as a public museum in 1925. It covers more than one million square metres and contains approximately 9,000 bays of heritage structures. At 19 million visits, that is roughly the entire population of the New York metro area passing through its gates in a single year — and the TEA figures count visits, not necessarily unique individuals.
“The 20 leading institutions collectively recorded 161.4 million visits — a 5.4% increase over 2024.” — paraphrased from the TEA Global Experience Index
Europe’s Giants Are Still Impressive. Just Not at This Scale.
The Louvre, Vatican, and British Museum remain undeniable cultural powerhouses — but Beijing’s top two institutions alone accounted for more than 36 million of the ranking’s total visits.
The Louvre at 9.046 million is a remarkable achievement by any normal measure. So is the Vatican at 6.934 million. Versailles placed fifth with 8.4 million, London’s Natural History Museum seventh with 7.117 million, and the British Museum 13th with 6.44 million. Beijing’s Palace Museum and Summer Palace together drew approximately 36.4 million visits — a combined figure that rivals the entire European contingent’s output. Seoul appears twice, with Gyeongbokgung Palace at No. 11 and the National Museum of Korea at No. 12. North America places once.
Travelers building a cultural itinerary who haven’t looked east will find the data pointing unmistakably in that direction. A Beijing trip combining the Palace Museum and Summer Palace puts visitors inside two of the world’s three most-visited cultural institutions. For the data-curious traveler, Beijing is no longer a detour from the classic European circuit — it is the new main event.
