Council of Australasian Museum Directors annual survey highlights

08 February 2007The summer season will see the usual backyard barbeques, lazy cricket matches, days of sun and surf and ... a visit to a major state, national or regional museum.
A museum visit may not seem an immediate candidate for the list of quintessential Christmas activities but research undertaken by the Council of Australasian Museum Directors (CAMD) tells a different story.

CAMD?S annual survey shows that total attendances at CAMD?s twenty-one museums rose to over 12 million in the financial year 2005/06. Over 9.1 million of these visitors went to one of Australia?s major museums and 2.9 million to New Zealand venues.

And its not only the locals who enjoy the stimulation of a visit to their local major museum. Interstate and overseas tourists will make up a sizable proportion of the visitors to the major museums? exhibitions over summer. In 2005-06 close to 1 million interstate tourists and over 2.1 million overseas tourists made the major museums one of their key cultural destinations when they travelled in Australia and New Zealand.

But not all visitors are walking through the door. Kevin Fewster, Chair of CAMD and the Director of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney notes that, ?This year has been a significant tipping point for museums. For the first time more than half of CAMD?s members are attracting more ?virtual? than actual visitors?.

Dr Fewster said that, in 2005/06 ?CAMD?s research shows that the public logged on to the websites of CAMD museums for a staggering total of 37 million user sessions!?

The major museums have enthusiastically embraced the digital revolution. ?Virtual? visitors to their websites can take an online tour of a museum; digitally browse through vast picture libraries; search through millions of referenced collection items; sample online learning resources; play games; follow their family history and access printed library resources as well as checking forthcoming exhibitions and opening times for a ?real-life? visit.

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