Why do we go to a museum, visitor center, castle or chateau?
When and how often do we visit a heritage tourism exhibition site? What are the expectations of the Hungarian population towards exhibitions in museums, visitor centers, castles, and manor houses, and how have these expectations changed in the past four years? Innotime Hungary Kft. sought answers to these questions in its recently concluded nationwide online trend research of 450 people, in which the answers were also compared with the results of similar research from two and four years ago.
Family trips
751% of respondents visit heritage tourism exhibition sites as part of their excursion or holiday program, and 851% visit them with their family. However, there are significant differences in how often they visited heritage tourism sites in the past year.
According to the research, 55% of respondents visited a castle once or twice a year and the same number visited a visitor center in the past year - however, 30% of them did not visit a visitor center at all, and 24% of them did not see a single castle exhibition.
Castles were less popular, with 371% of respondents not visiting any castles, and only 491% visiting a castle once or twice a year.
In the case of museums, the differences are less striking: 21% of respondents visited museums regularly in the past year, 36.5% once or twice a year, 29% more than twice, and only 13% stated that they had not visited any museums.
Heritage tourism is not trendy, yet we pay more for it than before
According to 771% of respondents, guests visit castles because of their unique atmosphere, while the same proportion is 841% for castles.
In the case of museums and visitor centers, the motivation is primarily interest in the topic (65% of respondents in the case of museums, 53% in the case of visitor centers), but museum visit motivation is also the search for a unique cultural experience (55%) and the discovery of exciting, new things (53%).
While three-quarters of respondents find museums, visitor centers, castles and manors valuable, special, and exciting, only 101% of respondents believe that visiting them would be trendy. In the case of visitor centers, this proportion is much higher, with a quarter of respondents considering the offerings of visitor centers trendy.
In addition to all this, it is perhaps interesting that compared to previous years, we are willing to pay much more for a good exhibition: while 2 or 4 years ago, the majority of those participating in the survey were willing to pay a maximum of 2,500 HUF for this type of cultural experience, today a third of respondents would pay up to 4,000 HUF, and a quarter would not mind paying up to 7,000 HUF for an exhibition ticket.
What makes an exhibition good?
Comprehensibility, visual appeal, personal appeal – these are the expectations of guests from a good exhibition, but in return they do not expect high-level scientific content or the use of interactive digital gadgets and other modern presentation tools – in fact, 64% of respondents would be happy if these tools were omitted when designing exhibitions. According to 88%, an exhibition is good if it can provide a complete experience even without an audioguide or tour guide.
Sustainability is an expectation
It has now become a fundamental expectation of visitors that exhibition venues strive to ensure environmental sustainability. For more than 901% of respondents, it is important that the exhibition venues' communication also includes information about what the facility is doing to protect the environment, it is an expectation that the equipment used for the exhibition is energy-efficient, and it is also a fundamental requirement that visitors can selectively collect waste in the facilities.
Experiences available from home
88% of respondents consider it important that digital content available at home, rather than paper publications, should help inform visitors in museums, visitor centers, castles and manors, and 68% consider it important that audio or visual guides can be downloaded to their own devices so that they can be listened to and watched at home.
Digitalization is also a significant expectation in the sales process: 771% of respondents would like to be able to purchase tickets from home.
