Museum of Science and Industry

Ten years after MOSI became one of 21 museums and galleries which stopped charging an entry fee the Museum is on track for the best year ever.

On 1 December 2001 museums and galleries funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) began free entry. In 2000-2001 the Museum attracted 288,968 visitors, and ten years later this is set to treble. Following a highly successful £9 million redevelopment, which reopened in January 2011, MOSI is on track for over 800,000 visitors through the doors this financial year (since April 2011). In total, since MOSI became free it has attracted nearly 6 million visitors.

MOSI Director Tony Hill said: "I feel passionately that museums should be a place for everyone to visit and learn, no matter what their income, and free entry has allowed us to be truly accessible to everyone. Our visitors now come from a wide range of income and ethnic backgrounds, and some of them will be inspired by what they learn here to form the next generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians. Free entry has been a fantastic success - even in a recession our numbers are the highest yet."

According to figures from DCMS the picture is the same across the UK, with visitor numbers at the country's national museums at a record high for the 10 year anniversary of free entry. 2010/11 was the ninth and most successful year since the introduction of free admissions, with around 18 million visits to former charging museums. Eight of the top ten UK visitor attractions are free DCMS-sponsored national museums, with around 18 million annual visits to museums and galleries that used to charge an entrance fee.

Free admission makes a major contribution to the UK tourist economy by attracting huge numbers of international visitors. Museum charges apply in most major capital cities, including MoMA, NewYork ($25); Musée du Louvre, Paris (€10); Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (C$22.00); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (€12.50); Vatican Museum, Vatican City (€15).

According to VisitBritain, Britain's major museums and galleries earn the country £1 billion a year in revenue from overseas tourists.  A recent report on Britain's culture and heritage shows that museums and galleries are a key motivator for many international visitors to Britain, with free world-class national museums and art galleries a particular draw.

Further information about museums and galleries, including a full list of DCMS-sponsored national museums, is available here.

For media enquiries please contact: Sarah Roe, MOSI press and publicity officer on Tel: 0161 606 0176, m: 07847 372647 

Notes to editors

• Free access to the permanent collections at DCMS-sponsored charging museums was introduced for children in April 1999, for Over-60s in April 2000 and for All (universal free access) in December 2001.
• MOSI is the winner of the Large Visitor Attraction of the Year in the 2011 Manchester Tourism Awards.

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