In my work as a museum consultant I often have to make use of attendance
figures provided by museums.  In my experience the only reliable figures
are based on paid tickets - and even here there can be anomolies.  All
other figures must be treated with caution.  The introduction of
charging for entry to previously free museums can cause a large apparent
drop in numbers due to a combination of price sensitivity and having
accurate figures for the first time.  It may be significant that the
approximate methods used by museums all seem to give "high" values.

Institutions seem not to be critical of flawed systems that give them
good news.  I know of one case where a combination of staff entrances
and exits, the cleaners polishing the glass of the magic-eye and their
to-and-fro broom movements as they cleaned the floor, had repeatedly
added 100,000 to the recorded annual attendance!

A form of turnstill should give good attendance data for free museums
but it will impede entrance.
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Julian Ravest
EMail [log in to unmask]
"Everyones actions are rational
within the world as they see it"