Every year, millions of tourists visit museums and other cultural and heritage sites during their trips. According to the Observatoire de fréquentation des sites culturels et touristiques, of the 94 French sites surveyed, almost 20 million visitors passed through their doors in 2019. By 2021, this number had dropped by some 47% to 10.4 million. With travel recovering in the post-crisis world, culture and heritage actors are reinventing themselves to appeal to travellers again.
France is the world's leading tourist destination. Foreign visitors make up a large percentage of the number of admissions to French museums, castles and other cultural sites. Several sites throughout France are undergoing a facelift or integrating technological elements into their offer to differentiate themselves from the competition and encourage customers to return.
In Paris, the Musée de Cluny has undergone major renovation work. The buildings have been restored, a new reception area has been built and all areas have been made accessible to people with reduced mobility. In addition, the work has enabled the museum to present its collections in a new way and to set out a new route for visitors. The plan seems to have worked out so far. In the first month after its reopening in May 2022, the museum welcomed more than 43,000 visitors, an increase of 119% compared to its average monthly attendance before. It should be noted that the museum has undergone seven years of construction and that such figures can be explained by the public's curiosity to see the new space. It remains to be seen whether this progression will last.
Other sites in the capital are taking less heavy-handed measures to revitalise their offer. Recently, the Musée Grévin and the Institut du Monde Arabe have turned to immersive experiences to attract visitors. To celebrate its 140th anniversary, the Musée Grévin hosted two new immersive adventures: Les Apaches de Paris and L'Armoire aux rêves. The first is a 90-minute immersive evening where visitors are immersed in the Parisian gangster scene of the early 20th century. The second is a mix between an escape game, a role-playing game and immersive play that lasts 30 minutes.
The Institut du Monde Arabe is going even further by using virtual reality to immerse its visitors. Proposed...
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