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Museum attendance in Sweden down now that you have to pay
By: Associated Press - | ∞
STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Sweden's state-owned museums have seen visitors drop by more than one-third since the new government scrapped a free-entry policy, news reports and museum officials said.
The 19 museums previously did not charge visitors and were able to survive on state subsidies of about $14 million a year.
But the center-right government that took power in October cut the annual grants in half and told the museums to introduce entrance fees if they needed more money. The changes took effect Jan. 1.
In January, the state museums saw the level of visitors drop an average of 35 percent, according to a survey by daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
The Museum of Architecture in Stockholm was worst hit. It received 4,480 visitors in January, an 83 percent drop from 26,147 in the same period in 2006, museum spokeswoman Bitte Nygren said.
But she noted it was not yet clear that the $7 entry fee was to blame.
"We have to wait and evaluate the numbers for the first quarter to see how we're really doing," she said.
Maria Dupont, a spokeswoman for Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, defended the new system, saying "nothing is for free." Instead of relying on subsidies funded by taxpayers, state museums now have to "keep up the quality and make sure that their exhibitions attract the visitors," Dupont said.
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