Great War centenary commemorations, including the spectacular poppy display at the Tower of London, have helped boost the number of visits to UK tourist attractions.

Visitor numbers were also swelled last year by the Commonwealth Games staged in Glasgow, according to statistics from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva).

Overall there was a 6.5 per cent increase in visits to Alva members' properties in the UK in 2014 compared with 2013, with Scottish attractions increasing by nearly 10 per cent and London sites having 7.1 per cent more visits.

The display Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red saw the moat at the Tower of London filled with 888,246 ceramic poppies, representing the number of British and Commonwealth fallen in World War I.

An estimated five million viewed the display from outside the walls and contributed to a six per cent rise, to 3,075,950, in visitors last year compared with 2013.

The boost given to Scottish attractions by the Commonwealth Games was reflected in the fact that Edinburgh Castle visits rose four per cent to more than 1.48 million, making it the most-visited, admission-paying attraction outside London.

Glasgow's Riverside Museum had a 41.8 per cent rise in visits, while the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh welcomed 39 per cent more visitors.

The most popular attraction last year was the British Museum with nearly 6.7 million visits followed by the National Gallery in London where visits rose 6.4 per cent to nearly 6.42 million. British museums and galleries enjoyed a 6.1 per cent increase last year, while the new visitor centre at Stonehenge helped the Wiltshire monument to an 8.4 per cent rise to more than 1.34 million visits.