Does it pay off for museums to foster creativity? The complementary effect of innovative visitor experiences

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to explore the link between creativity orientation, investment in visitors’ experience and operating and funding performance in tourist attractions, taking museums as a case study. The empirical work is based on an analysis of the information provided by a sample of Spanish, French, German, British and American museums. The findings highlight the positive impact of creativity orientation on museums’ operating performance, but show a curvilinear effect on funding performance. The use of new technologies and adaptation to the audience proves positive when seeking to attract visitors.

KEYWORDS:

• Creativity
• visitor experience
• museums
• cultural heritage management
• cultural tourism
• museum funding
• technology
• innovation
• performance
• tourism marketing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. National R&D Plan. It forms part of the research project “Innovating European museums. Analyzing activities, determinants, and efficiency indicators” [ECO2012-38552].