Ministry cuts museums’ entrance fees, but will it achieve intended purpose?

A new initiative by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism aims to help bring visitors in. Eighty-three museums under the auspices of the ministry in 43 Turkish cities have free admission as of July 15. Under the new initiative, all Turkish and foreign tourists are now able to visit these museums and historical sites for free. The goal of the program, the ministry says, is to increase the amount of interest towards museums and historical sites with relatively low numbers of visitors.

 “An entrance fee is always a factor,” says Tolga Tuyluoğlu, director of management of circulating capital at the ministry of culture and tourism. “Demand generally changes according to different factors and the type of service provided,” he explains in an online interview with Today's Zaman. “There's no specific target audience. This no-fee initiative is for everybody,” he adds.

 So, what are the criteria for the new initiative? The most popular museums, like Topkapı Palace and Hagia Sophia, which host approximately 2.5 million visitors annually, are excluded from the admission-fee-less list. “These places already [host] more than enough visitors,” explains Tuyluoğlu. “Thus there's no need for a campaign to encourage even more.”

The ministry's aim is to “introduce the historical, archaeological and cultural values to our entire society and convey these assets to future generations.” However, there's a big question mark over whether or not such initiatives will be sufficient to fulfill these goals. “There's no doubt that there are still a lot of things to be done, including more education and communication,” emphasizes Tuyluoğlu.

Compared with practices in other countries, there appears to be a need for a wider range of choices for museumgoers and historical sites. For example, in various cities of the US, where states tend to differ in museum practices, there are a number of museums which are always free, while others grant free entrance periodically, on certain weeks or during specific months, whereas in Turkey periodic deals occur only during Museums Week, which is celebrated annually in May.

In US museums, there are also alternative payment schemes, such as “pay what you wish” on some days of the week, which is in place at the Whitney Museum of American Art or the Guggenheim Museum. According to The Washington Post, more than 60 percent of American museums charge admission. On the other hand, for those museums with an open-door policy, there are some fee-based options such as special display halls or exhibitions.

In major European cities, such as Paris or London, visiting museums for free is not a very common practice, but is still possible. The number of museums that do not charge fees is small, or there may be only limited “free hours” at some museums. While the famous British Museum and the Natural History Museum are free, a large number of museums cannot afford to follow this practice. In this respect, 83 free museums in Turkey seems to be a generous number; however, it remains to be seen whether this will really help boost those museums and historical places' appeal, since most of these museums are not very popular. In addition, when making this comparison it should be kept in mind that these museums are already at a disadvantage in attracting tourists because of the lack of geographic proximity of many of these sites to tourist hubs such as Istanbul or Antalya.

 Among museums which can be visited for free under the current initiative are the Museum of Aksaray, the Bandırma Archaeology Museum in Balıkesir, the Museum of Söğüt Ertuğrul Gazi, Bursa's Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, the ruins of Troy in Çanakkale, the Archaeology and Ethnography Museum in Edirne, the Yunus Emre Museum, the ruins of Teos, the Ethnography Museum in İzmir, the Fortress of Beçin and the ruins of İassos in Muğla, the Ürgüp Museum and İstanbul's Adam Mickiewicz Museum -- the only İstanbul museum in the campaign.