2022 was not a top year, but it was a good year for many small(er) museums in Drenthe. With the easing and then abolition of the corona measures, the doors could open wide. But raging inflation and the rapidly rising corona cases in China threaten to make 2023 another exciting year.
For the Jan Kruis Museum in Orvelte, 2022 was a ‘normal’ year for the first time. In 2019, the museum opened mid-year in the museum village. Until this year it was not able to open its doors for a whole year.
“We haven’t had a really normal year in that regard,” says Leontine Kruis, who doesn’t have the exact visitor figures at hand. “But last year we at least had a good year. We did notice that slightly fewer people went on holiday in their own country than during corona.”
What this year will look like for the Jan Kruis Museum remains to be seen for Kruis. “It is exciting how things will continue in the world. The increased prices, corona… But we will continue cheerfully and optimistically.”
At Collection Brands in Nieuw-Dordrecht, more than 3,800 people passed through the gates in 2022. “An increase of almost 180 percent,” laughs museum chairman Hank Peters, who makes the comparison with 2021. That year marked a low point in the history of the ten-year-old museum due to the partly forced closure due to corona. Then the counter got stuck at 1,200 visitors.