A NEW study shows Glasgow is home to eight of the top visitor attractions in Scotland.

Riverside Museum and Kelvingrove Art Gallery are included in a list of six free venues which attract more than 1million people a year.

Last year, the number of people enjoying what Riverside has to offer soared by more than 11% to 1,261,681 slightly ahead of Kelvingrove.

Other top attractions include GOMA, the Botanic Gardens, the Centre for Contemporary Arts, the People's Palace, Glasgow Cathedral, Loch Lomond Shores and New Lanark Village and visitor centre.

And Glasgow Science Centre comes eighth in the table of top paid for venues with numbers last year up 20,000 on the previous year.

The new study was carried out by Glasgow Caledonian University's Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism Business Development.

It says: "Glasgow is continuing to break records with the Riverside Museum and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum maintaining over a million visitors.

"Loch Lomond Shores is also now an established member of the one million club with an ever growing range of offers that extends well beyond retail."

Professor John Lennon, director of the Moffat, said there was no doubt Scotland's visitor sector has benefitted from the lower value of Sterling against the Euro and US dollar.

He added: "It is testament to the range and appeal of Scotland's paid and unpaid offer that we continue to attract international and domestic tourists as well as local visitors to our visitor attractions.

"In addition, the positive demand from domestic visitors has also helped increase admissions as many families chose a staycation because of concerns of the value of the pound and perceived concerns about security in many destinations.

"The indications are overwhelmingly positive as many operators in both the paid and free sectors have seen improved revenues and admissions."

Glasgow Life chairman Archie Graham said: "Glasgow's award-winning civic museums are on track for another record breaking year when it comes to visitor numbers.

"With Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and the Riverside Museum each attracting more than 1.2m visitors, it is clear Glasgow is bucking the national trend which has seen a decline in visitors to major museums south of the border.

"With substantial investment in both Kelvin Hall and the refurbishment of the Burrell Collection, our ambitions for Glasgow’s greatest treasures knows no bounds.

"Both citizens and visitors are voting with their feet in showing their appreciation of Glasgow’s museums.”