NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE REPORT: MUSEUMS DEPARTMENT - PROMOTING HERITAGE SITES

The Report "Promoting Heritage Sites" has been submitted to the Honourable Speaker for presentation in the House of Representatives in accordance with sub-paragraph 8(b) of the First Schedule of the Auditor General and National Audit Office Act, 1997.

This performance audit sought to evaluate whether activities related to the marketing and promotion of heritage sites undertaken by the Museums Department were effective and contributed towards increased awareness of the national patrimony.

The Department is the principal national cultural heritage organisation and is responsible for the management and maintenance of a diversity of museums and archaeological sites and their collections. In addition, another main function of the Department "is to increase public awareness of the national patrimony of the Maltese Islands through specific initiatives that will be designed to attract more visitors to museums and historical sites".

During the year 1999, over 1.24 million persons visited the various museums and archaeological sites, generating revenue amounting to about Lm880,000.

Audit Issues

The Department lacks a corporate philosophy as a customer-oriented provider of services and does not actively undertake marketing activities necessary to achieve its goals. The major contributory elements leading to this situation are insufficient funds and low or no prioritisation of this function by the Department. Moreover, the Department does not employ the human resources necessary to address such public oriented services.

Government entities extraneous to the Department, namely the Malta Tourism Authority and Air Malta as well as private organisations perform marketing of national heritage sites. The Museums Department, however does not have formal representation on these government organisations and links with private entities are generally non-existent. This has led to a situation where the Department is fully dependent on these organisations for the promotion of its own services.

During the years 1994 – 1999, a weak association between tourist arrivals and the number of paying visitors was observed. One reason is that tourists arriving during the summer months generally refrain from visiting museums and sites. However, there is a strong association between tourist arrivals and visitors using single entry tickets. This indicates that there is a minority but a stable flow of tourists who visit museums on one-off basis.

The number of student visits to local museums and heritage sites can indicate the level of interest in cultural heritage fostered in schools. Student visits declined from 50,782 which amounted to 57 per cent of the student population during scholastic year 1995/96 to 36,484 students or 41 per cent of the student population in 1998/99.

During 1999, the actual cost incurred per visitor to Museums and sites amounted Lm0.99 while the revenue generated per visitor totalled Lm0.71. An effective marketing strategy could render the Department self-sufficient.

Recommendations

The National Audit Office recommends that the Department establishes an organisational structure that allows a balance between the conservation and marketing functions of the Department. The benefits of such an organisational structure will enable the Museums Department to be in a position to further encourage awareness of national heritage and to finance its own operations.