Foreign tourists are set to be made to pay entry fees to visit the UK's top attractions.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has accepted a proposal from Baroness Hodge, a former Labour MP, that England's free museums and galleries should consider making visitors pay to get in.
On Thursday, Ms Nandy will set out plans to explore "the potential opportunities that charging international visitors at museums could bring".
One leader of a large London museum told the FT it was a "very sensible" plan, adding that the current model does not work because "Government funding is constantly being squeezed".
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However, the proposal put forward by Baroness Hodge made in a recent independent review of Arts Council England (ACE) was conditional on the Government first rolling out digital ID.
The controversial scheme, which was scrapped in its mandatory form just weeks ago, could be used to differentiate between British and foreign visitors if it is ever rolled out.
The Labour peer said charging overseas visitors would put the UK in line with other countries such as New Zealand and Singapore.
Though she suggested that foreign UK residents and children could be exempted from the scheme.
The director of the Victoria and Albert Museums said he was not interested in charging overseas visitors
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It is not clear what rate museums would set for foreign tourists, if the plan were to go ahead, but one source said it could fall in the £15-£20 range, in line with comparable major museums in other countries.
Sir Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museums in London, said his organisation was not interested in charging overseas visitors either way.
He said it would be "far better" to use a controversial tourist tax in London to fund free tickets to its museums.
London plans on implementing visitor levies on overnight stays, a scheme which could raise as much as £350million for the city.
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Major museums, such as the British Museum, could charge up £20 to foreign visitors
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Visitors from abroad make up 43 per cent of people going to major British museums and galleries, accounting for 17 million trips in the most recent data spanning from 2023 to 2024.
The industry is still recovering from the Covid pandemic with 40.8 million visitors from 2023 to 2024, down from a peak of 49.8 million visitors from 2018 to 2019.
The Association for Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva) revealed Chinese visitors in particular were steering clear of Britain.
Its director Bernard Donoghue blamed the UK removing tax-free shopping, making France, Spain or Italy more attractive to high-spending Chinese visitors.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced both reforms and investments into the Arts Council
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"In Italy, they've got back somewhere in the region of 120 per cent of the Chinese visitors that they had in 2019; we've got back to 81 per cent," he said.
"We are not as internationally competitive or attractive to the Chinese market."
Like Sir Tristram, Mr Donoghue has called for the proceeds of a tourist tax to fund museums instead.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has said it would work with museums to explore options for a tourist fees model, and provide an update by Christmas.