White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 11for 12% of the GDP. How manyItalians live off foreign tourism? And, aswe will see below, foreign culturaltourists can contribute through theintroduction of tax measures concerningthe hotel industry.Lastly, it is claimed that museumservices are mixed public goods andwhen there is congestion, tickets canration consumption. But it is equallytrue that the system of queues orbookings, as we will describe below, is awell-tried method of rationing whichprevents, without excluding visitors interms of spending power, overcrowdingat the Uffizi or the Colosseum.In 2006, revenues from tickets sold instate-run Italian museums was 104million euros. This figure is the salesvolume of an average to small company.The ministerial fund for the performingarts (Fondo Unico per lo spettacolo) isaround five times larger. Moreover, themoney from visitors per se is notenough to solve the financial problemsof museums. According to the openingtimes and type of museum, admissionscover from 5 to 15% of managementcosts. Is it worth using such apotentially discriminatory tool inexchange for little or nothing? In 2006there were 34.5 million visitors, ofwhich only 16.3 million were payingvisitors. The distribution of visitors isvery disproportionate geographically.This means that the proceeds fromticket sales de facto only really concernthree cities: 5.3 million visitors paid inNaples, 9.7 million in Rome, and 5.2million in Florence. In the rest of Italypaying visitors were less than a millionper city.Free access to permanentcollectionsIn Italy people pay to visit thepermanent collections and statemuseums, apart from some concessionsfor young people and pensioners.Temporary exhibitions are a culturalservice with paid admission, andtherefore do not come into thisdiscussion. Local administrations adoptvarious stances: Milan seems to regretthe choice made in favour of paidadmission a few years ago, whileBologna seems to be satisfied with itspolicy of free admission for city-runmuseums.In the national Cultural Week of 2007,when admission was free, there was a13% rise in visitors to Italian statemuseums.The few studies on the subject showthat on average Italians have asignificantly positive attitude towardsmaking voluntary contributions tomuseums.The most recent international examplewas the UK Labour government’sdecision to give free admission toeveryone. It was introduced in stages:April 1999 for children, April 2000 forthe over 60s, and December 2001 foreveryone. Entrance to specialexhibitions, however, are still charged.In the first five years, there were 29million extra visitors, a rise of around83%. In London visits rose by 86%: theVictoria & Albert + 138%; the NaturalHistory Museum + 112%; and theScience Museum +81%.The museums were admission hadalways been free, such as the BritishMuseum, the National Gallery and theTate saw a rise in visitors in the sameWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 270