Museums in the province do not attract nearly as many visitors as before corona

Before corona, 14.7 million visitors came to the North Holland museums and in 2021 there were only 4.2 million, according to research by the Museum Association.

Ayla van de Weerdt of the Rescue Museum in Den Helder recognizes herself in this image: “We generally see fewer visitors. During the holidays you see that the visitor numbers are still okay,” she says. She doesn’t have exact numbers at the moment. “But if you compare it with before corona, you see much lower numbers. That causes a big dent, we also hear that around us.”

“In addition to a decrease in visitors, we also see a clear decrease in the number of school visits,” says Anouk Veldman of the Hilde House in Castricum.

Paul Storm, business director of the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, acknowledges seeing the same reduction as other museums. “At the beginning of this year, we were at two-thirds of the number of visitors we wanted. About sixty to seventy percent. And of course the nice weather also played a part. There are always fewer visitors when the weather is nice.”

Exhibitions

Nationally, there are 37 percent fewer new exhibitions. “You get a negative spiral,” says Kuiper. “Museums also have to keep burning the building and keep things going, but they can’t put down an attractive new offer. You need new offer to be attractive.” That is something Van de Weerdt recognizes. “Of course, an exhibition also attracts new visitors, because there is something new,” she says. For the Rescue Museum, there is now an exhibition running and the next one is not yet in danger.

Storm indicates that new exhibitions are causing a revival in the number of visitors to the Frans Hals Museum. “With our income we depend on the public, but also on the subsidy we receive. At the end of this month we will start a new exhibition, newcomers, with old art. We hope to attract new visitors with this.”

Although the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is one of the tourist attractions, not many people come here yet. “The Rijksmuseum is at sixty percent of before corona, it is of course a large institution and it is well supported,” says Kuiper. “Yet that also leaves a gap of millions.”

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Nationally, there were ten million foreign museum visitors before corona, in 2021 there were only 1.4 million. “You also have smaller museums throughout the province, so they don’t all attract those visitors anymore. The tourists will still go to the well-known museums that they have on their bucket list,” Kuiper thinks.

Tickets or museum card

It is striking that this year at the Frans Hals Museum there was a decline across the board, both among museum card holders and people who buy a ticket. “We also see, for example, that there are just more people who buy a single ticket than there are visitors who came with a museum card,” says Storm.

The House of Hilde in Castricum has more difficult insight into the visitor numbers. “We are in a different situation than before the corona. We closed as a visitor center and opened as a registered museum,” says Veldman. “In terms of visitor numbers, we are not like we were before corona, but we can’t really compare that very well. We are happy with the numbers we see so far. The museum card also yields more visitors, we hope for an increasing line in the number visitors.”

gas price

Museums not only have to deal with absent visitors, they also suffer from the high gas price. “Over the past few weeks and months, we have heard really worrying noises from various types of museums. An increase of a few 10,000 euros is already a lot of money for small museums.” Kuiper says that medium-sized museums are facing a price increase of several hundred thousand. “The size of the national museums is even several million.”

It is not yet an issue at the Rescue Museum. “Nevertheless, we do take it into account,” says Van der Weerdt. “You’re definitely looking at alternative heating options, of course.”

The Frans Hals Museum is also thinking about making it more sustainable: “The building we rent is old and therefore difficult to make more sustainable. We have to do something about this, regardless of the high gas prices. At the moment it is still manageable, but we must costs come from somewhere, so it certainly plays,” says Storm.

The House of Hilde distinguishes itself in another area from most museums in our province. She is completely off the gas. Veldman: “We have already used that for the rising energy prices. So luckily we do not recognize that problem.”

According to the museum association, museum tickets may be slightly more expensive. However, according to Kuiper, that does not solve the problems because it concerns such large blows. “As a museum association, we really call on governments and funds.”