"Buy tickets then turn around"
A group of Vietnamese tourists had just set foot in the Diem Phung Thi Art Center ( Hue Museum of Fine Arts). As soon as the museum staff asked visitors to buy tickets before visiting, the group immediately said "Oh really" and turned away.
It is not difficult to see visitors to Diem Phung Thi Art Center and Le Ba Dang Art Center (part of the Hue Museum of Fine Arts) on Le Loi “museum street”. However, if you observe closely, you will see that most of the visitors who buy tickets to admire the works displayed inside are foreigners and visitors from far away. There are quite a few local visitors.
Standing and chatting with the ticket sellers of these centers, we witnessed many visitors trying to enter. However, when the ticket sellers explained that this space sold tickets, many visitors looked surprised and turned away. Some visitors seemed dissatisfied with the instructions on how to buy tickets.
“This is a common situation,” a ticket seller sighed. According to regulations, the entrance fee to the Le Ba Dang Art Center and the Diem Phung Thi Art Center is 30,000 VND/ticket/adult and 20,000 VND/ticket/child, for each exhibition facility. The ticket price is 50,000 VND/ticket/adult when visiting both exhibition facilities.
“To be able to visit such beautiful sculptures and works of art in such a comfortable time and with such a ticket price, I think it is too cheap. Many foreign tourists spend a lot of money to come here to buy tickets to visit, while many of us Vietnamese are not willing to spend that amount, I feel a bit regretful”, said Ms. Hong Loan (tourist from Ho Chi Minh City).
In fact, not only Le Ba Dang Art Center and Diem Phung Thi Art Center, but also many public and non-public museum spaces (with ticket sales) are in a similar situation. Managers of many museums believe that this is a worrying and troubling issue that has not just been mentioned recently. Ms. Dinh Thi Hoai Trai, Director of the Hue Museum of Fine Arts, said that the situation of free entry and paying for tickets is an eternal story that has been going on for a long time, for many reasons.
According to Ms. Trai, most of the visitors to the two museum centers are foreign tourists. Most of the foreign visitors seem surprised that the entrance fee is so cheap. On the contrary, Vietnamese visitors are different, there are still some who think "why do I have to buy a ticket to enter the museum?".
Neat and professional
“Spending a large amount of money on other things is simple, but spending that much money to buy a ticket to visit a museum makes people hesitate and think,” Ms. Trai commented. Ms. Trai also added that not everyone can understand the works displayed in museums, especially museums specializing in fine arts, so creating the habit of spending money to buy tickets to museums is not something that can be done overnight.
To solve this problem, Ms. Trai said that in addition to permanent thematic exhibitions, the museum regularly organizes cultural and artistic events right inside the museum space. These events are usually open to the public for free and thus attract more visitors. From there, they will approach, feel and form the habit of coming to the museum.
In recent years, Ms. Trai said, she has joined hands with units focusing on theeducation sector to bring students to museums. The head of the Hue Museum of Fine Arts also hopes that in the future, when students are closer to museums and heritage, forming the habit of going to museums and buying tickets in the younger generation will no longer be a concern.
Discussing the story of buying tickets when visiting museums, Ms. Le Cam Te, owner of Lebadang Memory Space on Kim Son hill (Thuy Bang commune, Hue city) expressed the opinion that experiencing art requires paying a suitable fee.
Ms. Te said that after 4 years since its establishment and facing many difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lebadang Memory Space has welcomed more than 40,000 visitors. Of which, foreign visitors still make up the majority. The owner of Lebadang Memory Space believes that to attract such a number of visitors, it is necessary to have a thorough and systematic investment every day as well as a professional operating team. Only then will it correspond to the ticket price that needs to be offered, as well as in return, the satisfaction of visitors.
“Visitors to our space are very happy. Many visitors say that even if the ticket price were higher, they would still be willing to pay for the experience,” Ms. Te said, adding that in exchange for customer satisfaction, museum workers need to work with heart, kindness, passion and enthusiasm to pursue to the end. It is known that the ticket price for Lebadang Memory Space for locals is 150,000 VND/person, free for children under 6 years old and people 70 years old and older. For foreign visitors, it is 269,000 VND/person.
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