(New York, March 21, 2006)—The acclaimed and widely attended fall/winter special exhibition Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings generated $251 million in spending by regional, national, and foreign tourists to New York, according to a Metropolitan Museum of Art visitor survey released today. Using the standard ratio for calculating tax revenue impact, the study found that the direct tax benefit to the City and State from visitors who declared that seeing the exhibition was a deciding factor in their decision to visit New York totaled some $25 million.
The landmark Van Gogh drawings exhibition, on view at the Metropolitan from October 18 through December 31, 2005, attracted 459,972 visitors, shattering Museum records for attendance at a show of drawings. The survey found that some 73% of the visitors traveled from outside the five boroughs of New York City, including 24% from the Greater New York Metropolitan Area, 37% from other states, and 11% from outside the United States. Two-thirds reported they were staying in local hotels or motels, with a median three-day length of stay.
These visitors reported spending an average of $494 on expenses for lodging, dining, sightseeing, entertainment, and admission to other museums, and another $253 on shopping, during their stay in New York. One in six reported making a first visit to the Museum, and nearly a quarter reported planning their visit well in advance, and including other local attractions on their itineraries. More than a third of those in New York on business reported extending their time in the city to include a visit to the Metropolitan.
The economic development impact on the City does not directly benefit the Museum, which maintains a policy of welcoming visitors to special exhibitions without imposing extra fees. All exhibitions are free with the Museum's recommended admission.
Emily K. Rafferty, President of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, noted: "This important economic development survey proves once again that the Met – in addition to fulfilling its mission of educating and illuminating all of its visitors – continues to serve also as a powerful economic development engine for the entire City and State. The Museum has played a major role in reanimating tourism to New York, and we are proud that our stellar roster of special exhibitions continues to attract visitors from around the block and around the world, helping the entire region to build its economic resurgence."
The survey of visitors to Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings is the most recent of a series of audience studies undertaken by the Metropolitan over the years to calculate the public economic impact of its special exhibition program. In 2004, for example, the Museum reported that its El Greco retrospective had generated $345 million in economic impact, and in 2000 found that visitors to Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids had generated some $307 million. In 2003, visitors to two concurrent shows – Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman andManet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Paintings – produced some $220 million and $368 million, respectively, in economic stimulus to the local economy, and more than $58 million in direct tax revenues. A 1997 audience assessment estimated the economic impact of its exhibition The Glory of Byzantium at $184 million. All the studies report only on visitors who cite these exhibitions as a primary or important factor in their decision to visit New York.
Using a scale of 1 to 10 to determine how important seeing the exhibition was in their decision to visit New York City, 36% of the visitors surveyed in the study gave the exhibition a rating of 8 or higher, and 50% gave a rating of 8 or higher to visiting the Metropolitan Museum in general. The economic impact is estimated to be $90 million for just those individuals who indicated that seeing the exhibition was important in their decision to visit New York City, and $126 million for those who wanted to see the Museum in general.
The latest economic development survey was conducted by the Museum's Visitor Services Department/Office of Research, with analysis provided by Jeffrey K. Smith, former professor of educational statistics and measurement, and chair of the department of educational psychology, at the Rutgers University School of Education. Professor Smith, who now serves on the faculty at the University of Otago in New Zealand, formerly headed the Metropolitan Museum's Office of Research and Evaluation.
The Metropolitan's presentation of Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings was the first major exhibition in the United States ever to focus on Van Gogh's extraordinary draftsmanship. Comprising 113 works selected from public and private collections worldwide, including an exception number of loans from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, it revealed the range and brilliance of the artist's drawings as they evolved over the course of his decade-long career.
The exhibition in New York was made possible by United Technologies Corporation.
The exhibition was jointly organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
The exhibition was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
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March 21, 2006
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