the museum market | France

1.1 Definition and scope of the study

Museums are establishments in which collections of objects of historical, technical, scientific or artistic interest are assembled and classified for the purpose of their conservation and presentation to the public.

The global museum market, hard hit by the health crisis, is expected to grow by 7% per year by 2025. North America is the largest market for museums. Although it is in first place, the Louvre is the only French museum in the world's Top 10.

In France, the sector's revenue rose sharply between 2015 and 2019 (+32% over the period), before dropping in 2020 due to the health crisis that led to the closure of museums. The national market is characterized by a strong increase in the number of visitors over the last decade, particularly for art museums and in Parisian museums, which concentrate more than half of the visits. This increase in attendance is partly linked to the growing success of permanent exhibitions. In addition, foreign visitors represent half of all museum attendance in France. This dependence accentuated the difficulties of museums during the health crisis. The sector is also very dependent on funding, especially public investment.

The trend in the sector is towards the multiplication and modernization of the offer. These phenomena have been accelerated by the health crisis.