Surviving Covid-19: what museums and cultural institutions can do to attract cultural tourists and get through the pandemic

Abstract

The upsurge of the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of cultural tourism to unprecedented crisis constraining the individual freedom to travel. Museums and cultural institutions have been prompted to reconfigure their organizational structures and service offering to survive the backlash of the pandemic. However, literature does not agree on the initiatives which are most effective in augmenting their viability in the post-Covid-19 era. This study captures evidence from initiatives undertaken by a large sample (n = 2,968) of Italian museums and cultural institutions to thrive amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. A regression analysis was designed to investigate how innovations in the service offering influence the organizational attractiveness of museums and cultural institutions. Social networking enabled organizations to maintain meaningful exchanges with the audience amidst the pandemic. Initiatives aimed at enriching the service offering and emphasizing the authenticity of the cultural heritage boosted the museums and cultural institutions’ organizational attractiveness.