The combination of the wettest summer on record and the disruption caused by the Olympic Games resulted in visitor numbers falling at UK attractions over the summer months.

According to figures released by The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), visits to some London sites fell by more than 60 per cent during the four months from May to August when compared with 2011 numbers.

Overall, London attractions saw an average fall of 15 per cent in visitor numbers during the period.

On average, museums and galleries in London saw the smallest decline (13.1 per cent) on visitor numbers while outdoor attractions such as gardens and zoos saw the largest decrease (21.3 per cent).

Bernard Donoghue, chief executive of ALVA, said: "These figures from our 43 members, who manage nearly 2,000 tourist sites and welcome more than 100 million domestic and overseas visitors each year are definitely sobering reading and show that the summer of 2012 has been a difficult time financially for our most popular and best-loved visitor attractions.

"For London attractions the Olympic period was one of their worst trading periods in living memory and for visitor attractions the summer is their equivalent of retailers' Christmas, once lost the business can't be won back.

"In the first couple of weeks of the Olympics, some of the key central London attractions experienced a huge fall of up to 61 per cent in visitor numbers compared with the same weeks last year. Overseas visitors who stayed away from London during the Olympic period and Londoners who avoided the city led to media headlines of London being described as 'a ghost town'".

To read the full ALVA press release on the figures, click here.