Increasing Visitor Frequency: approach to understanding and forecasting how cultural attraction visitors respond to various incentives to increase visitation rates

Funding: 2004: $21,826
2005: $54,636
2006: $32,809

Project Member(s): Burke, P.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Linkage Projects)
Australian War Memorial
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (Museum of Applied Arts and Science: Powerhouse Museum)
Australian Museum (Australian Museum Partnership Funds)
Museum Victoria
Australian National Maritime Museum
National Museum of Australia (National Museum of Australia Partnership Funds)

Start year: 2005

Summary: Museums have been steadily losing visitors over the past decade. While current research indicates that this may be attributed to greater leisure competition, little is understood about how people make choices to visit or not to visit cultural attractions. The aim of this project is to develop, demonstrate and test a Random Utility Theory (RUT)-based modelling approach allowing managers of cultural attractions to understand and predict the likely visitation consequences of potential initiatives. We wish to model visitor choices of museums versus other competing attractions to allow museums to identify specific strategic actions (or combinations) to achieve organisational goals.

Keywords: museums, marketing, choice modelling, random utility theory, audience development, applied economics,

FOR Codes: Marketing, Arts and leisure not elsewhere classified, Marketing not elsewhere classified, Museum Studies, Recreation, Leisure and Tourism Geography, Recreation, leisure and tourism geography , Critical heritage, museum and archive studies, Arts, Sport, exercise and recreation, Management and productivity

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.