Free entry to museums

Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong says his ministry is continually reviewing strategies to ensure that a sustainable approach is taken to maximise visitor experience in museums. 

He was replying to Nominated MP Janice Koh's suggestion of giving Singaporeans free entry to its museums all year round. 

Mr Wong added that while there have been initiatives that have increased the number of visitors, there are also relatively more visitors when there are special programmes in the museums. 

Over the past three years, NHB has granted free admission to the permanent galleries of our National Museums to various segments of our population - Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents who are students, teachers, full-time National Servicemen and senior citizens. 

These groups currently enjoy free admission to the permanent galleries of NHB's museums all year round. In addition, NHB also offers 15 open house days annually where all visitors are able to visit both the permanent and changing exhibitions of NHB institutions free of charge. Many of these open house days are synchronised with our national holidays.

"Visitorship is also driven by the quality of programming, and this requires significant resources to sustain. Otherwise, as we have observed in some European countries which offer free admissions, visitorship numbers can still taper off after an initial phase."