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October 2023 - Culture and Heritage

Survey finds that while opening hours of museums are close to pre-pandemic levels visitor numbers are still down: An Arts Council funded survey that questioned over 700 museums in England has found that while opening hours are not far off the levels they were before the global pandemic, visitor numbers are still down when compared to their pre-pandemic levels.

The Annual Museum Survey, now in its 7th year, found that while the number of hours that museums were open in 2022/3 was 6% lower than in 2019/20, visitor numbers (although higher than in 2021/22) were down 18% on the levels seen before the Covid-19 outbreaks.

The research also found that the income of museums has dropped by 3% in 2022/23. This comes as museum expenditure has grown by 10% due to increased costs in areas such as energy bills, materials, staff costs and travel expenses.

The report noted that museums have been trying to work with the fact that they need to put up the price of tickets to boost their income, but are also challenged with keeping admission charges at a minimum in order to encourage more visitors.

According to the survey, museums on the whole have seen a fall in visitor spend, with some also reporting a fall in charitable donations.

The Annual Museum Survey polls non-national museums throughout England about a range of things including workforce, volunteers and finance as well as the impact of the pandemic and most recently, the cost of living crisis.

The findings show very clearly that the cost of living crisis is having an impact on museums, with the situation likely to get worse, before they improve, according to the survey authors.

Victoria Harding, programme manager at South West Museum Development, said: "Analysing the data across the past four years has provided valuable insights, not just into the pandemic recovery and the agility of the sector to rebuild, but also the new impacts generated by the cost-of-living crisis. 

"A range of factors, such as free entry and geography, have influenced the degree to which museum visitors have returned to pre-pandemic levels.  However, across the sector, irrespective of how successfully museums have generated increased income through a variety of new, or enhanced, ways this progress is outstripped by the increase in expenditure reported by 64% of museums."

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