In 2021, the second pandemic year, Croatian museums logged 2,549,841 visitors, up 74% on 2020 but only 48% of the visits recorded before the pandemic, a survey by the Museum Documentation Centre shows.
The survey was conducted last month and covered 141 of Croatia's 164 public and private museums.
While many European museums were closed last year due to COVID, this was not the case in Croatia, where the number of visitors was also a result of a revived tourism last summer.
Almost 25% of the visitors registered last year were attracted by the three usually most popular museums.
The Archaeological Museum of Istria in Pula saw 313,180 visitors, up 91% on 2020 but only 54% of the number logged before the pandemic.
The Split City Museum attracted 135,891 visitors, up 228% on 2020 but only 34% of the number before the pandemic.
Dubrovnik Museums had 111,411 visitors in 2021, up 166% on the year and 37% of the pre-pandemic figure.
Last year, as in 2019, foreign tourists accounted for almost 25% of museum visitors but only 42% of the visits they generated before the pandemic.
Zagreb museums log sharpest fall in visitors due to earthquake, pandemic
The sharpest fall in visits was registered by Zagreb's museums, which have been closed since the March 2020 earthquake and are awaiting years-long reconstruction. The pandemic, too, reduced the number of those who visited them on the occasion of various events.
Mimara, the Croatian Natural History Museum, the Strossmayer Gallery, and the Croatian School Museum had no visitors at all in 2021. The Croatian History Museum and the Archaeological Museum had between 1,000 and 1,500 visitors at other premises. The Museum of Arts and Crafts logged 15,182 visitors or 19% of the pre-pandemic number. The usually most visited Klovićevi Dvori Gallery had 58,056 visitors, only 16% of those in 2019.
The Vučedol Culture Museum in Vukovar registered 8,081 visitors, whereas in the years before the pandemic their numbers went up to 90,000.
The only category which saw a rise in 2021 in relation to 2019 were people who visited museums with a family ticket, with 120,726 registered in 2019, 57,749 in 2020 and 136,212 last year.
(Hina)
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