A record number of people were drawn to visitor attractions across Scotland last year with Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Edinburgh Castle being named as the most popular places.

VisitScotland said yesterday that numbers grew by 1.7% in 2007, with 45.7 million people taking a trip to attractions across the country last year.

Edinburgh Castle remained the most popular paid-for attraction in the country, drawing 1.2m people, with Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which reopened in 2006 following an extensive refurbishment, named as the top free attraction with 2.2m visitors.

There were also increased visitor numbers at the Falkirk Wheel, St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and the Shetland Museum and Archive.

Philip Riddle, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: "This is great news for Scotland. Our visitor attractions are renowned across the world and these latest figures show that Scotland is continuing to draw in the crowds."

Glasgow Science Centre was another strong performer in 2007, with an increase in visitor numbers by 17%, and Urquhart Castle in Drumnadrochit, where crowds grew by 11%.

The Scottish Sea Bird Centre in North Berwick was named as the attraction with the biggest rise in visitors, with 26% more than the year before, rising from 225,500 customers to 284,702. Tom Brock, chief executive of the centre, said new attractions and increased investment had increased its popularity.

A series of solar cameras has been installed on Bass Rock and the small islands off the coast to monitor the puffin and gannet population, with images viewed and controlled by visitors to the centre.

"The cameras have been amazingly popular with visitors. We also want to introduce boat trips in the next months or so. We are within half and hour from Edinburgh, but have some of the best wildlife sites in the world," he said.

Latest figures show that English tourists account for the highest proportion of visitors to Scotland's attractions (6.4m), with Scots making 6.35m visits and overseas tourists accounting for 2.7m visits.

While many attractions are enjoying a golden era, some would appear to have lost their shine for visitors. The People's Palace in Glasgow saw its numbers dip by 18.4% - the largest drop in the country. Visitors to the free exhibitions at National Galleries of Scotland have also gone down, as have numbers at Loch Lomond Shores.

Tourism Minister Jim Mather welcomed the overall increase in visitors to Scottish attractions and added that the industry had to continue to find ways to innovate to keep the crowds coming.

"Visitors are demonstrating that they want to visit our biggest cities, as well as more remote parts of Scotland.

"If we are to continue to see growth in years to come, industry needs to continue to innovate and look at new ways of attracting tourists. If they do, we will see real growth in Scottish tourism."

A spokesman for Glasgow Culture and Sport said: "It has been a record year for Kelvingrove. Glasgow 1955 Through the Lens' is a hugely popular exhibition at the People's Palace and we are developing further exhibitions."