Museum Visitor numbers

Five million take advantage of free entry at museums 5 million extra visitors to National Museums since entrance charges were scrapped in 2001. There was a 11 per cent drop in visitor figures after 7/7. Also, although London museum visitor figures are largely on an upward trend, national museums outside London visitor numbers are falling.. David Barrie, director of the National Art Collections Fund charity, in a letter to the Times noted the 6 per cent decline at the British Museum and the 14 per cent fall at the National Gallery since 2001, and the fact that overall visitor numbers had only risen by 2 per cent since 2001 at those museums that had always been free. David Barrie said. ‘'It's worth keeping a very close eye on what is going on and trying to interpret it,’ ‘The competition for leisure time is becoming more intense and my suspicion is that were it not for free admission, we would be looking at a significant drop across the board. But we've always said that free admission by itself was not enough. What we really need is adequate consistent funding for all these institutions so they can not only keep their doors open but offer the public the service they're capable of.’' Quoted in: SALON - the Society of Antiquaries of London Online Newsletter Salon-IFA 137: 3 April 2006