1.7 million visitors less for the Met - US art museum with the largest drop lately

According to The Art Newspaper's latest Visitor Figures survey, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York experienced a significant decline in visitors due to the pandemic, with 1.7 million fewer visitors in 2022 than in 2019. Last year, the Met’s main building received more than three million visitors, compared to almost five million visitors four years ago, which resulted in a dramatic drop in cultural tourism. To ensure fairness in comparing visitor numbers, the museum retrospectively revised its 2019 figures after implementing a new digital counting program in 2020.

However, just like the Met, other major art institutions in New York also experienced a decline in attendance in 2022 compared to 2019. The Solomon R. The only exception was the Museum of Modern Art, which saw a 10% increase in attendance. However, it is worth noting that MoMA's 2019 visitor figures were lower than usual due to the museum's four-month closure for renovations.

What is more, according to the latest survey, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC overtook The Metropolitan Museum of Art as the most visited US museum in 2022, with almost 3.3 million visitors. Nevertheless, the Met's visitor count only includes its main building on Fifth Avenue, excluding the Cloisters in Upper Manhattan, which had almost 200000 visitors just last year. If both locations were combined, the Met's attendance would surpass that of the NGA. The Museum of Modern Art ranked third with 2.2 million visitors, followed by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. Other New York institutions like the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Brooklyn Museum still had lower attendance figures than pre-Covid levels.

According to a spokesperson for the Met, visitor numbers are showing improvement this year and the visitors are returning very fast, which hasn’t been anticipated given the pandemic and the low rates in recent years. But in 2022, tourism in New York had recovered to more than 80% of pre-pandemic levels and is expected to continue to improve in 2023. The Met spokesperson stated that tourists from other countries are slowly growing, and it all started with visitors who lived close to the city.

After a period of two years marked by lockdowns and instability, personal bereavement, and societal unrest, 2022 was the year when most individuals could once again visit their preferred art institutions or explore novel locations, with relatively minor limitations in most cases. And although the number of visits to the top 100 art museums in the survey of last year was more than 140 million - in other words, double last year’s number of visitors and almost three times the number of tourists in 2020 - experts say that these numbers are still low compared to the year before Covid started and that things might get back to normal in the near future - but this recovery is pretty slow and we are not there yet.

Did you know?

The Museum is a showcase of art from various parts of the world spanning over 5,000 years, open to everyone for exploration and appreciation. It encompasses two famous locations in New York City, namely The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. In addition, millions of individuals engage with The Met through its online platform.

Since its establishment in 1870, The Met has aimed to be more than just a repository of valuable and exquisite artifacts. Art takes on a life of its own daily, with exhibitions and events unveiling fresh concepts and unforeseen links across cultures and eras within the Museum's galleries.

What’s more, this spring you can explore a whole series of events and exhibitions dedicated to Women’s History Month. So, what are you waiting for?