[*StarDust*]

S'pore museums rated well


The National Museum of Singapore (left) topped the list with 871,800 visitors. The other three most visited museums were the National Library Gallery, Asian Civilisations Museum and Images of Singapore. -- PHOTO: NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD

SEVEN in 10 people polled in an inaugural survey were impressed with the wide range of museums in Singapore.

They were also delighted with the high curatorial standards, which they said were comparable to top museums overseas, said the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the National Heritage Board (NHB) in a joint statement on Wednesday.

The survey, conducted by both organisations, also studied the visitor demographics and perceptions of selected institutions under the Museum Roundtable (MR), a grouping of over 50 local museums here.

The survey revealed that 37 per cent of museum-goers were from overseas, of whom 11 per cent were repeat museum visitors.

Britons made up the bulk of museum visitors followed by Australians, Americans, Indians and Filipinos. Most were aged 25 years and above and 59 per cent of the tourists were women.

'Museums mirror the growth of our city and present to the world various perspectives of the Singapore Story. The number of overseas visitors to museums has shown an encouraging increase over the past years,' said Said Ms Jeannie Lim, director of attractions at the STB.

'Of the ten million tourists who came to Singapore last year, close to one million visited our national museums.'

Over 6.5 million people visited the museums here - a 26 per cent jump from the year before. The National Museum of Singapore topped the list with 871,800 visitors. The other three most visited museums were the National Library Gallery, Asian Civilisations Museum and Images of Singapore.

Some boutique museums also made it to the top 20 list, including The Changi Museum and The MINT Museum of Toys.

Collaborations with other institutions worldwide are also in the works to boost Singapore's aim of being a cultural gateway to Asia.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_430496.html

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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...005294/1/.html

SINGAPORE: Singapore's heritage sector is buzzing. For the first time, visitorship to Singapore's museums has crossed the six million mark.

Parliamentary Secretary for Information, Communication and the Arts, Sam Tan, said 6.58 million people visited the museums at the end of FY2008, up from 5.21 million in FY2007.

Mr Tan said some of the reasons behind the increase were quality programmes with mass appeal.

He said there was also growth in donations and loans to heritage-related causes. Between 2004 and 2008, such giving amounted to almost $240 million.

Mr Tan said the steady emergence of new players, who have carved out niches for themselves in non-traditional areas such as heritage-related videos, trails and fashion, has also added to the vibrancy in the heritage sector.

He said these are strong indicators of the vast potential in Singapore's heritage industry.

- 938LIVE/ir

[Squirrel<3Nuts]

Ya expected ma, now must quickly go see or else next time FTs take over all the heritage will be destroy & gone.