UK offers virtual tours for people amid COVID-19 lockdown

London [UK], Mar 27 : Britain's famous tourist attractions, including palaces and castles galleries and zoos, have closed their doors to visitors because of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, millions of people from around the world are now taking virtual tours of tourism hotspots across Britain, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) said Thursday in a new report.

ALVA said said that millions of people may discover the diversity of Britain's tourist attractions through websites and digital galleries, science podcasts, virtual tours of the Houses of Parliament, web-cams of zoos and safari parks, as well as being able to take part in church and cathedral services and watching opera and theater, China.org reported.

"In the last week or so there has been an explosion in the number of people, here in Britain and around the world, virtually visiting the UK's top visitor attractions," ALVA Director Bernard Donoghue said in the report.

ALVA said that the British Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum and National Gallery have all seen a substantial increase in visitors to their websites.

The number of visitors to the British Museum's website has doubled in the past two and a half weeks, while visits to the National Gallery's virtual tour pages are up almost 800 per cent compared to last week, and 1,144 per cent up over last year.

Britain's best-known cathedrals, from Durham to Canterbury are also streaming church services.

Zoo cams have also become popular sites for virtual visitors.

Even William Shakespeare is proving to be a website hit more than 400 years after his death. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon is offering a video tour of the five Shakespeare family homes.

Visitors can travel even further back in time to the early days of the Roman occupation of Britain around 2,000 years ago, by paying a virtual visit to the Roman Baths in the city of Bath.

( With inputs from ANI )