(New York, 2007) - The Metropolitan Museum's concurrent presentation of two acclaimed and widely attended exhibitions in the fall 2006/winter 2007 season - Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde and Americans in Paris, 1860-1900 - generated $377 million in spending by regional, national, and foreign tourists to New York, according to a visitor survey the Museum released today. Using the industry standard for calculating tax revenue impact, the study found that the direct tax benefit to the City and State from out-of-town visitors to the Museum totaled some $37.7 million. (Study findings attached.)
Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde, on view at the Metropolitan from September 14, 2006, through January 7, 2007, attracted 490,002 visitors. Americans in Paris, 1860-1900, shown from October 24, 2006, through January 28, 2007, attracted 311,700 visitors.
The survey found that 74% of the visitors traveled from outside the five boroughs of New York. Of these, 30% were from the Greater New York Metropolitan Area, 46% were from other states and 24% were international visitors. Sixty-four percent of travelers reported staying overnight in the City, and two-thirds of these visitors stayed in a hotel or motel. The median length of stay in the City was 4.1 nights.
These visitors reported spending an average $575 on expenses for lodging, dining, sightseeing, entertainment, and admission to other museums, and another $282 on shopping, during their stay in New York. Less than one in four reported making a first visit to the Museum, and almost one in three planned their visit well in advance (more than a month prior to traveling).
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 suggested admission.
Emily K. Rafferty, President of the Metropolitan Museum, noted: "We are delighted to report the Met's continued prominence in drawing visitors to New York, thereby generating important revenues for the City and the State. Once again, this demonstrates that culture is central to tourism in our region."
The survey of visitors to Cézanne to Picasso and Americans in Paris 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. A 1997 assessment estimated the economic impact of its exhibition The Glory of Byzantium at $184 million.
Using a scale of 1 to 10 to determine how important seeing one or both of the exhibitions was in their decision to visit New York City, 32% of visitors surveyed in the study gave a rating of 8 or higher. Forty-five percent gave a rating of 8 or higher to visiting the Metropolitan Museum in general. The economic impact is estimated to be $120 million for just those individuals who indicated that seeing the exhibitions was important in their decision to visit New York City and $171 million for those who wanted to see the Museum in general, yielding tax benefits of $12 and $17.1 million respectively.
The latest economic development survey was conducted by the Museum's Visitor Services Department/Office of Market Research, with analysis provided by Karin Grafström, Market Research Manager.
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