Enhancing visitor return rate of national museums: application of data envelopment analysis to millennials

ABSTRACT

Millennials, who are different from the older generations in leisure and consumption propensities, constitute more than 30% of the global population. The increase in the proportion of millennials in the population has motivated national museums in Korea to implement a new operational strategy for attracting this generation. Using data envelopment analysis, this study reveals that Korean millennials are more interested in special exhibitions and participatory events compared to the earlier generations. The results also indicate that enhancing the overall revisit rate significantly improves the overall performance of national museums. This study is expected to help museums and event organizers to establish differentiated operational strategies according to visitor types for “what service should be provided for whom.”

KEYWORDS:

• Museum management
• museum visitors
• efficiency evaluation
• data envelopment analysis
• revisit rate
• museum operation
• tourism management
• loyal consumer
• millennials
• sustainable tourism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.