Almost four million visits helped National Museums Liverpool (NML) record its best ever year in 2018-19, its annual report revealed Monday. It included 507,577 overseas visitors.

World Museum in Liverpool, as a member of NML, became the most visited museum in England outside London, boosted by an exhibition of China's iconic Terracotta Warriors, the report showed. The museum was NML's most visited venue in 2018-19 with 1,258,460 visits.

There was also a 35 percent increase in children and young people attending educational activities at NML's museums and galleries.

NML said for the second year running, the organisation recorded its highest ever visitor figures, with 3,965,453 visits made across eight museums and galleries.

NML's Director Laura Pye said: "The Annual Review is a chance to share with the public what a fantastic year we've had and the important role we have within the cultural offer of the city and region.

"A vibrant program of exhibitions and events, as well as our permanent collections, attracted people to our venues, including the blockbuster China's First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors exhibition, which had a phenomenal impact on the Liverpool City Region and was our biggest draw of the year."

The report said NML evaluated the economic impact of the Terracotta Warriors exhibition and discovered that it made an 105 million U.S. dollar contribution to Liverpool's economy.

NML said building on the success of its record-breaking year it has plans for an exciting program of exhibitions through 2019 into 2020 and beyond.

With museums and galleries established in Liverpool more than 150 years ago, NML was created to complement and counterbalance museums in London as a nationally-funded group because of the global importance of the 4 million items in its collections.