The New Taipei City Government said it is mulling revoking free admission to museums, a policy implemented in 2010, adding that its final decision would be made by March next year.
The government cited complaints that the policy, while bringing in as many as 6.5 million tourists last year, is degrading tourism quality at museums.
Prior to 2009, then-Taipei County set regular museum admission prices at NT$100 and discounted ticket prices at NT$70.
Pursuant to the government’s distribution of vouchers in 2009 to stimulate the economy in the wake of a global economic downturn in 2008, the museums in the former county had asked visitors to use the vouchers instead of purchasing tickets.
A free admission policy was implemented in museums in 2010, but limited only to museums that were under New Taipei City’s jurisdiction, and excluding all other museums under the Ministry of Culture.
However, the increased number of tourists has caused museum maintenance fees to spike, according to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) New Taipei City Councilor Pai Pei-ju (白佩茹).
Citing the Gold Museum in New Taipei City’s Juifang District (瑞芳), Pai said that trash created by tourists has become a problem and that public restrooms are often not up to sanitary standards due to the large volume of people using them.
Museums lack the resources to maintain the establishments, leading to the general degradation of the museums’ quality as cultural sites, Pai said.
Museums are not theme parks. They should be exquisitely maintained and provide high standards for tourists, Pai said, adding that charging admission fees is the way to achieve such results.
Listing museums under the municipality’s jurisdiction, Pai said that average funding stands at NT$110 million (US$3.35 million) for the Gold Museum, NT$130 million for the Yingge Ceramic Museum, NT$90 million for the Tamsui Historical Museum and NT$80 million for the Shihsanhang Museum of Archeology.
Even with the sale of commercial merchandise and additional classes held by the museums, they are unable to make a profit, Pai said.
New Taipei City Bureau of Cultural Affairs Director Lin Kuan-yu (林寬裕) said that a free admission policy was implemented to encourage people to visit cultural sites, adding that the policy has achieved its goal.
We now look forward to helping museums achieve fiscal balance, while maintaining, if not elevating, their professional standards, Lin said.
KMT City Councilor Tsai Yeh-wei (蔡葉偉) said that should admission fees be reintroduced, the government should ensure the funds are used to help museums achieve self-sustainability.
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