(MMD Newswire) January 28, 2009 -- Morey Group released attendance, membership, and pricing results from a survey of more than 240 museums, zoos, and aquariums throughout the US.  According to John Morey, Morey Group President, “For the year leading up to September, all cultural attraction segments were experiencing increases in attendance, but the impact of the economy cannot be denied and reduced those gains significantly.”  Key results from the report indicate the following:

The economy is impacting visitation, which is unusual.  Total attendance is down on average     -6.6% in the 4th quarter compared to 2007.  This decrease is even more significant when factoring in total attendance for the year was up 0.8%, which suggests visitation was higher for the year until the 4th quarter.

Cultural attractions with an admission charge of $10 or more have been impacted most significantly with a -4.5% decrease in the 4th quarter while those with an admission charge of less than $10 actually gained attendance of 3.3%.

The decrease in 4th quarter paid admissions was most significant among aquariums (-21.0%) and zoos (-12.5%).  Museum and art museum paid attendance decreased -6.0% and -5.0% respectively.

Membership grew on average 4.3% compared to 2007.

The average adult admission cost was $10.81, up 6.7% from 2007. 

The average child admission cost was $7.07, up 5.7% from 2007. 

Morey continued, “The decrease in attendance is significant and is the first time we have seen the economy actually impact visitation.  Typically, cultural attractions are relatively cheap forms of entertainment and as such are not impacted by the economy.  The last time we saw a significant shift in visitation was after September 11, but within 6 months, most visitation patterns returned to normal.”

The percent error in this survey is ±5.8%.

The 2008 Cultural Attraction Attendance Report is available online at www.moreygroup.com.

Morey Group is a national market research firm specializing in the cultural attraction industry.  Since 1985, Morey Group has worked with more than 200 cultural organizations throughout the country.  The Cultural Attraction Attendance Report is in its 10th year of publication.

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