Museum attendance in Quebec up in 2022, but not to pre-pandemic levels

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA)/ Musee des Beaux-Arts Montreal. (Daniel J. Rowe/CTV News)

More Quebecers visited Quebec museums in 2022, but as in many cultural sectors, the figures still haven't reached pre-pandemic levels.

Last year, Quebec museums recorded 10.6 million visits, an increase of 57 per cent, compared with 6.8 million in 2021, according to new figures released on Monday by the Quebec statistics institute (ISQ). It should be remembered, however, that some museums were temporarily closed because of the rise in cases of COVID-19.

The numbers are still a long way from the average number of visits between 2015 and 2019, which stood at 15.2 million.

The ISQ notes, however, that the gap between 2022 and the 2015-2019 average has narrowed month by month, representing just 1 per cent in December.

The institute also noted a spectacular 240 per cent increase in school visits, which rose from 0.2 million in 2021 to 0.6 million in 2021.

Science museums are also the only ones to post higher figures in 2022 than they did before the pandemic, with 3.5 million visitors compared with 3.4 million a few years earlier.

For the province as a whole, the Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Bas-Saint-Laurent regions will post figures closest to the 2015-2019 average.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 2, 2023.