Museums’ accessibility for senior citizens: Some evidence from Italy

Maria Daniela Giammanco,Lara Gitto,Ferdinando Ofria

doi:10.54055/ejtr.v31i.2410

Abstract

This paper uses the information on elderly visitors, drawn from a survey carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in 2018, to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder senior tourists’ visits to museums. The resulting evidence captures how the accessibility of museums impacts the share of elderly visitors who have access problems and higher need of assistance and, therefore, provides useful information to improve cultural supply. The econometric analysis shows some significant relationships between the dependent variable, namely, the share of senior visitors on the total visitors, and the dummy variables employed as regressors indicating the existence of free admission for a certain category of visitors who have a problem of access, free admission for accompanying person, the presence of communication/promotional campaigns aimed at seniors visitors, the presence of an on- line catalogue, and support for visitors with access difficulties. Monetary reasons are not a major hindrance to enjoy cultural sites. The study further outlines certain aspects that should be taken into account to increase senior citizens’ participation in museum activities.

Highlights

The relevance of the ageing societies and disability themes is growing among tourism scholars, as both the demand and supply of this industry are widely impacted by them
The great majority of museums (63.7%) guarantees a free or reduced entrance to elderly visitors, and almost 60% of them extend this to their accompanying people; more than 51% have implemented communication campaigns directed at elderly visitors but only 14.4% have a catalogue accessible online, this factor may constitute an attractive aspect
This note looked at possible correlates of the share of senior visitors in the total number of museum visitors in Sicily, to investigate the existence of hindrances and facilitators to senior tourism

Summary

Introduction

The relevance of the ageing societies and disability themes is growing among tourism scholars, as both the demand and supply of this industry are widely impacted by them. A preliminary investigation carried out for Sicily (Giammanco et al, 2022) suggests, in accordance with the relevant literature (see among others, Eichhorn and Buhalis, 2011), that one of the main barriers for elderly/people with disabilities to visit cultural sites is physical accessibility, due to the difficulties in reaching a cultural site; further, an old/disabled person might need to be accompanied by someone.

Results

Conclusion