By powerslinky77
Existing museums in Norway are struggling to survive, while the government wants to build new ones, according to an article from “Klassekampen” https://www.klassekampen.no/article/20181010/ARTICLE/181019996
According to the article, many museums struggles due to the decrease of financial support, and they must do some changes, like reducing the number of activities for the visitors for example. The museums cost structure is that they have high fixed costs and low variable costs, so independently of output (like numbers of visitors or number of exhibitions), the costs to run museums remain the same.
So, what can the museums do to survive these hard times and increase their income if not the government wants to give more financial support?
I would say that it depends on what type of organizational form the museums are, and in my opinion, how much they are struggling with the economy. Bymuseet in Bergen consists of 12 museums according to their website, and they have been struggling for several years with the economy and may have to close some of the museums. They could for example increase the price for entrance to increase their revenue. Price elasticity is used to indicate by how much visitor attendance decreases when the entry price is raised, and according to Luksetich and Partridge (1997) the demand for museum services is price inelastic, which means that museums can generate significant increases in revenues by increasing the admission fee.
But what if increasing the prices will have an even more negative impact on the economy for Bymuseet in Bergen?
If it’s not possible to increase the prices, some visitors can be asked to pay more voluntarily for example, by becoming donors. Individual preferences are also important when it comes to the visitor numbers. One suggestion could be that the museums could give a survey to some of the attendees and ask what activities they would prefer if the museum increased their prices. The quality of the collection at the museums are also important to increase the visitor numbers, but then again, the museums need more financial support to get that quality that they want.
The statistics shows that the visitor numbers from 2016 to 2017 have increased, but that the income have been reduced. I think that the solution would be to increase the ticket prices temporary and, if possible, come up with some new activities that have the possibility to increase their income, until the government can give the museums more financial support in the future.
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