The National Natural History Museum, Malta and the Gozo Nature Museum : a comparative study on their potential and performance

Abstract

The research project attempts to assess the visitor attraction potential and performance of two local Museums. The main objective is to find the reasons behind low participation in museum visits and define its parameters to address potential weaknesses. The researcher intends to provide recommendations to museums willing to improve their cultural tourism product to be more relevant to the public and increase their annual number of visitors. In this respect, the study focuses on two museums with much in common, even though one is located in Malta and the other in Gozo, both are managed by Heritage Malta. The project is guided by research questions that facilitate the appreciation of the dialectic between Heritage Malta's senior officers, visitors and tourism professionals. The data collected from visitors on-site provide rich insights into the visitor profiles, their needs and expectations while visiting a natural history museum. Additionally, these data permit the evaluation of the museums' quality standards through visitor satisfaction. Complimentarily, the data compiled by the interviews of Heritage Malta's senior officers and a tourism professional define the current views and challenges to selling these museums as visitor attractions. This dissertation raises awareness about the interest shown by all visitor profiles. It also presents opportunities as well as indications as how museums address shortcomings to make them more attractive. Museums willing to evolve according to stakeholders' needs, diversify and adapt their offers to visitors' various profiles will ensure their relevance and secure a future as public institutions and as visitor attractions.