Museums’ accessibility for senior citizens: Some evidence from Italy

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.