Museums will multiply in 2024
From Go-Go music, to Shakespeare, to robots in Seoul
By Imogen White
The pandemic plunged the world’s 104,000 museums into crisis. Though masks are now off and lockdowns are over, spiralling living costs and expensive travel mean many cultural institutions are still suffering from what industry figures call “the tourism equivalent of long covid”.
In London, big venues like the British Museum and Tate Modern reported visitor numbers in 2022 well below the heights of 2019. Despite this gloom, some countries have recovered well. Attendances at Danish and Polish museums have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. In Seoul, the National Museum of Korea was more popular in 2022 than 2019.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2024 under the headline “Night at the museum”
