Vennersys, the integrated ticketing, retail and visitor management company, has investigated the challenges being faced by museums and heritage sites following the international pandemic.
The company’s business development manager, Megan Thompson, looked into how the sector was performing, offering insight into how the tech firm can effectively assist organisations through the difficult period.
1) Attendance
The Association of Independent Museums conducted research at the beginning of the year that discovered that 38% of museums in the UK encountered visitor numbers less than half their pre-Omicron predicted level, over the previous festive holiday period.
When institutions adapted their predictions with the sluggish winter period and new COVID-19 variant in mind, over two-thirds of museums predicted lower-than-anticipated income levels by March this year.
The impact is felt by some more than others, with almost a quarter of museums expecting less than half the income they had predicted before Omicron was discovered, with 15% planning restructures or redundancies and 7% at severe risk of closure.
The VenposCloud ticketing system can assist with ticket and merchandise sales, with several third-party integrations that help venues reach new audiences online. The firm’s recently announced partnership with TXGB brings the opportunity for third-party bookings from top travel sites such as Tripadvisor.
2) Cost efficiency
Lower revenues provide museums with fewer resources for systems and services and the staff who work with them. With less money to spend, you need to ensure that your systems are efficient, effective, and worth what you’re spending to maintain them.
A large proportion of museums and cultural sites operate on a free entry basis, meaning that they are heavily dependent on income from retail, catering and charitable donations. Museums that use different systems for entry, POS and donations could potentially be wasting crucial funds and time on the upkeep of these individual systems.
To solve this, Vennersys provides comprehensive products catering for a range of museum requirements, including a unified ticketing system for numerous points of entry as well as inventory and POS management. Organisations can therefore maximise their cost efficiency by using a single programme, whilst still receiving real-time updates.
3) Staffing
Well-being has been a prominent topic for organisations in recent years, significantly impacted by lockdowns and side effects of the pandemic. As a result, 70% of museums reported that the pandemic has made a notable impact on the well-being of their staff.
Further to this, volunteer-dependant venues confirmed they were facing struggles to recruit members due to health concerns, stress and bereavement preventing the return of volunteers.
Efficient systems can reduce staff levels needed at various locations around attractions, as well as decrease the dependency on active staff and reduce stress levels.
For example, Vennersys’ entry-ticketing software employs QR codes to authorise visitors to scan themselves into museum areas effortlessly, without the need for stationed staff members.
More information on Vennersys’ solutions for COVID-19 related issues can be found on the company’s site.
Vennersys recently upgraded the technology of Dalkeith Country Park in Scotland, uniting the venue’s various operations under one system.
