The Olympic Effect
September 5 2012
The Museums Journal has some interesting statistics on London museum visits during the Olympics:
Museums in London suffered dramatic falls in visitor numbers in the run-up to the Olympics, with some as much as 40% down on last year.
Central London was the worst hit: the British Museum lost 169,970 visitors in July, while the number of visitors to paid-for exhibitions at Tate Modern and Tate Britain fell in the first week of August.
The number of visitors to the National Portrait Gallery fell by 58,461 in July compared with 2011, while the National Gallery had 40% fewer visitors in the first week of August.
In west London, the Natural History Museum reported about 8,000 fewer visitors during June and July.
In south-east London, the National Maritime Museum, part of the Olympic equestrian arena, changed its opening hours to encourage spectators to visit the museum but still lost 11,167 visitors in July. It did, however, welcome an extra 63,356 visitors in June.
We'll get the full picture when figures for August are available. But these numbers certainly tie in with my experience of museums during the Games.
