From Chester Zoo and The British Museum to Stonehenge, the UK is home to a wide range of popular attractions and landmarks, bucket list destinations that people would love to tick off their list.
Many of these iconic locations offer branded merchandise for purchase to commemorate a visit, ranging from small souvenirs to exclusive items and designs. As consumers shift to being more environmentally conscious, there has been an increase in eco-friendly products, too.
But which of these landmarks has the most affordable merchandise? Which is the most coveted?
The team at Purple Moon Promo has delved deep into a range of data to bring you the answers. We have looked at the UK’s most popular zoos and aquariums, landmarks and sights, and museum attractions. Then, using each attraction’s online gift shop, we recorded the prices of classic promo products to reveal which attraction has the most affordable merchandise on average. We have also looked at Google search data to reveal which attractions have the most desired items.
West Midlands Safari Park has wildly affordable merchandise
For this section, we looked at the price of a printed t-shirt, tote bag, keyring, mug and notebook from each attraction’s online gift shop. We then took those prices and calculated the average merchandise price for each attraction.
West Midlands Safari Park
Average Merchandise Price: £7.49
In first place is the West Midlands Safari Park, which has the most affordable merchandise among the UK’s top attractions. The average price of merchandise from the safari park was around £7.49. The West Midlands Safari Park also had the second lowest t-shirt cost among attractions, priced at just £14.99.
The safari park is a four-mile drive, so you typically need a car. Visitors encounter extraordinary wildlife, from African elephants and giraffes to lions and tigers. If required, visitors without a car can book a guided minibus tour ahead of their visit.
Edinburgh Zoo
Average Merchandise Price: £9.99
Edinburgh Zoo has the second-most affordable merchandise among popular UK attractions, costing an average of just £9.99. The most affordable pocket-money gifts are a notebook, priced at £3, or a keyring, priced at £5.95.
The zoo, located just three miles west of Edinburgh’s city centre, is an 82-acre home to more than 1,000 rare and endangered species. Among those species are sun bears, Indian rhinos, and the UK’s first Giant Panda in 17 years.
Westminster Abbey
Average Merchandise Price: £10.15
Westminster Abbey rounds out the top three UK attractions with the most affordable merchandise on average. Across the products we looked at, the average price was just £10.15, with the most affordable item being the “Westminster Abbey Famous London Icons Tote Bag,” priced at £4.95.
Since 1066, the Anglican church in the English capital of London has been the coronation site of 40 British monarchs. It is now the site of precious paintings, stained glass, textiles, books, and other artefacts.
Keyrings are the cheapest merchandise product
Keyring
Average product price: £5.81
The cheapest products we examined were keyrings, which cost an average of just £5.81. The iconic Tower Bridge in London, a combined bascule, suspension, and cantilever bridge, had the most affordable price for keyrings, at just £3.
Notebook
Average product price: £10.10
Notebooks, which, on average, cost £10.10, are in second place among the top UK attractions. Edinburgh Zoo has the lowest price for notebooks, at just £3, and on the other end of the spectrum, Stonehenge charges £22 for its “Trilithon Leather Notebook.”
Tote bag
Average product price: £10.76
Tote bags are the third most affordable product type among top UK attractions, with an average price of just £10.76. The attraction with the lowest price for tote bags is the West Midlands Safari Park, which has the most affordable merchandise at just £2.50.
UK museums are best for digging up low-cost merchandise
On average, museums had the most affordable merchandise of the three attraction types we examined. Across all of the museums and product types we examined, the average cost of merchandise at popular museums in the UK is around £12.13. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow had the cheapest average merchandise cost among museums, at £11.10.
Sights and landmarks take second place, with an average merchandise cost of £12.53. Westminster Abbey is the most affordable in this category, at £10.15 on average. Zoos and aquariums take last place, costing an average of £13.88. The cheapest attraction in this category is West Midlands Safari Park, at £7.49 on average, and the most expensive is London’s Whipsnade Zoo, at £15.00.
Brits covet Chester Zoo merchandise the most
Chester Zoo
Total merchandise searches: 15,370
When analysing which popular UK attractions have the most desirable merchandise, Chester Zoo takes the title by quite a stretch. Between September 2023 and August 2024, more than 15,000 searches have been made for terms such as “Chester Zoo merchandise” and “Chester Zoo gift shop.” It’s also noteworthy that Chester Zoo ranked as the fifth-most affordable UK attraction for merchandise, costing £10.78 on average.
Tower of London
Total merchandise searches: 8,780
The Tower of London takes second place, with almost 9,000 Google searches over the last 12 months for search terms relating to its promotional merchandise. As one of the most iconic tourist spots in the UK, the Tower of London’s merchandise costs an average of £13.30.
The British Museum
Total merchandise searches: 7,440
Rounding out the top three popular UK attractions with the most sought-after merchandise, we have The British Museum, another iconic London attraction. The last 12 months have seen people in the UK Google terms such as “The British Museum gift” and “The British Museum souvenir” a total of 7,440 times. The average merchandise price at this attraction is around £13.09 based on the product types we looked at.
Methodology –
We took the most popular UK attractions, which are classified as museums, sights and landmarks, and zoos/aquariums, according to Tripadvisor.
We then used the official website of each attraction to record the prices of a promotional T-shirt, a tote bag, a keyring, a mug, and a notebook, accurate as of 29/09/2024. Where more than one branded item was available, we took the “most relevant” or “most popular/bestselling” from each online gift shop.
Then, we calculated the average cost of merchandise for each attraction using these prices. We were then also able to calculate the average cost of merchandise by attraction type and product type to reveal which types of attractions and products were most affordable for merchandise.
Using Google Keyword Planner, we got the UK search volumes from between September 2023 and August 2024 for the terms; “[LOCATION] merchandise,” “[LOCATION] gift,” “[LOCATION] gift shop,” and “[LOCATION] souvenir.” We then combined the four search volumes for each attraction to get the total number of merchandise searches and reveal the attraction with the most sought-after merchandise.
