Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that spending by overseas tourists across the UK rose in the first nine months of 2014. But are museums seeing the benefit of this?
Research by VisitBritain published in 2013 suggests that shopping and eating are by far the most popular activities for international visitors, with visits to museums coming below those to famous monuments and – with the exception of London and the south-east of England – going to the pub.
And overseas spend, perhaps unsurprisingly, is highest in London. The capital is the entry point to the UK for the majority of tourists, so it is tough for regional museums, says Mike Robinson, the professor of cultural heritage at the University of Birmingham.
There is an established corridor, which takes in London, Oxford, Bath, Stratford, York and Edinburgh, and outside that route it is hard to attract international tourists.
Coupled with this, the demise of regional development agencies along with local authority cuts mean that regional museum budgets for international marketing are thin on the ground.
Arts Council England’s £3m Cultural Destinations scheme is one of a number of initiatives trying to address this, by grouping together several organisations in the same area with a budget to market them as a destination.
Jeanette Edgar, the director of marketing and communications at Lakeland Arts, which is part of the South Lakeland Cultural Destinations partnership, makes the distinction between individual and group visitors, saying the latter can be hard to tap into if museums are not part of a fixed itinerary.
Edgar plans to target groups with Lakeland Arts’ Windermere Jetty development, due to complete in 2016, and will market it through the Japan Forum, a collective of attractions around Lake Windermere that has built strong ties with Japanese tour operators, marketing consultants and media outlets.
But it is not just about numbers. “You want them to understand your museum too, so unless you invest in a lot of interpretation they can feel a bit lost,” Edgar says.
Turner Contemporary in Margate, which is leading the Culture Kent partnership (funded by Cultural Destinations), is doing just that with the help of a £3,000 match-funding award from UK Trade and Investment, which will see it translate its website into French and Dutch. It is also working with local language schools to link educational tourism with culture through resources and visits.
And this month will see the culmination of a year-long scheme run by the British Council with the support of the National Museum Directors’ Council to find out how regional museums could make themselves more attractive to visitors from Brazil, Russia, India and China (Bric).
Janneke Geene, the head of business and development at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, went to Moscow as part of the scheme, and met staff at the city’s museums to gather information on how Russian tourists behave.
It is the small things that make a big difference, says Geene. Few Russians speak English so they tend to travel in groups, and Russian museums usually have an entrance fee, so advertising free entry is a quick win.
The scheme’s findings will be presented at a workshop at the Birmingham Museums Trust on 12 March, and the British Council is working on a toolkit for museums looking to attract tourists from Bric countries.
Research by VisitBritain published in 2013 suggests that shopping and eating are by far the most popular activities for international visitors, with visits to museums coming below those to famous monuments and – with the exception of London and the south-east of England – going to the pub.
And overseas spend, perhaps unsurprisingly, is highest in London. The capital is the entry point to the UK for the majority of tourists, so it is tough for regional museums, says Mike Robinson, the professor of cultural heritage at the University of Birmingham.
There is an established corridor, which takes in London, Oxford, Bath, Stratford, York and Edinburgh, and outside that route it is hard to attract international tourists.
Coupled with this, the demise of regional development agencies along with local authority cuts mean that regional museum budgets for international marketing are thin on the ground.
Arts Council England’s £3m Cultural Destinations scheme is one of a number of initiatives trying to address this, by grouping together several organisations in the same area with a budget to market them as a destination.
Jeanette Edgar, the director of marketing and communications at Lakeland Arts, which is part of the South Lakeland Cultural Destinations partnership, makes the distinction between individual and group visitors, saying the latter can be hard to tap into if museums are not part of a fixed itinerary.
Edgar plans to target groups with Lakeland Arts’ Windermere Jetty development, due to complete in 2016, and will market it through the Japan Forum, a collective of attractions around Lake Windermere that has built strong ties with Japanese tour operators, marketing consultants and media outlets.
But it is not just about numbers. “You want them to understand your museum too, so unless you invest in a lot of interpretation they can feel a bit lost,” Edgar says.
Turner Contemporary in Margate, which is leading the Culture Kent partnership (funded by Cultural Destinations), is doing just that with the help of a £3,000 match-funding award from UK Trade and Investment, which will see it translate its website into French and Dutch. It is also working with local language schools to link educational tourism with culture through resources and visits.
And this month will see the culmination of a year-long scheme run by the British Council with the support of the National Museum Directors’ Council to find out how regional museums could make themselves more attractive to visitors from Brazil, Russia, India and China (Bric).
Janneke Geene, the head of business and development at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, went to Moscow as part of the scheme, and met staff at the city’s museums to gather information on how Russian tourists behave.
It is the small things that make a big difference, says Geene. Few Russians speak English so they tend to travel in groups, and Russian museums usually have an entrance fee, so advertising free entry is a quick win.
The scheme’s findings will be presented at a workshop at the Birmingham Museums Trust on 12 March, and the British Council is working on a toolkit for museums looking to attract tourists from Bric countries.
