The Night of Museums – a boost factor for the cultural dimension of tourism in Bucharest

Abstract

Several media and research sources have recently flagged out and insisted significantly on a new process of concern to tourism planners in Bucharest. The Night of Bucharest Museums has initially been a quite isolated, museum focussed and rather individualistic event which has progressively developed over the past ten years into a cultural process involving several cultural institutions. Among the institutions involved in this growing event museums are still predominant but not sole. Most of the participant members into the event have developed complex and dynamic programmes comprising sections of joint institutional events mostly having to do with exposing the public to local culture. This brief comparative analysis of this progressive event development identifies changes to the extent and with particular regard to the cultural dimension of it in close connection to the potential of local tourism development. This paper is mainly attempting to answer the question regarding to what extent the public of such event has become tourist. The paper also aims to focus on more specific aspects and issues concerning the main aim by sketching a brief overview regarding the attitudes and perceptions of people regularly attending an event such the European Night of Museums in Bucharest. The paper attempts to determine the profile of participant to such event trying to identify the trends of this event on the Romanian wider market but particularly on the tourism market given the fact that museum visitor are mostly tourists. The study is making use of data collected during 2013 and 2014 editions of the event. The final aim of the paper is to emphasise issues regarding the wider concept of motivation in visiting museums and how they are linked with the cultural dimension of tourism, highlighting several difficulties faced by a multitude of institutions and how these are attempting to use tourism to overcome problematic situations.

The Role of Special Event in Attracting Museum Visitors and Popularizing Museums

“…One of the most popular special events organised in nocturnal context is "The Night of Museums". Several previous studies provide some evidence that this special event contributes to the higher museum visitation in Eastern European countries: in Croatia (Noć muzeja, 2018; Mavrin and Glavaš, 2014), Serbia (Bjeljac et al, 2011), Romania (Dumbrăveanu et al, 2014), and Poland (Jaremen and Rapacz, 2018).…”

“…Although some types of them, like media events, do not generate income directly, they form an important part of marketing communication strategy. Also, special events can be community-oriented, used for fundraising (Dumbrăveanu et al, 2014). Special events are sometimes called cultural events (Jareman and Rapacz, 2018) and are used as one of the tools capable to attract a wider museum and non-museum audience (Axelsen, 2006).…”

“…Existing studies on "The Night of Museums" are mainly focused on discovering the demographic structure of visitors (e.g. Bjeljac et al, 2011;Dumbrăveanu et al, 2014) and attempt to reveal their motivation for visiting these kinds of events (e.g. Dumbrăveanu et al, 2014).…”

Museum Events as a Tool for Community and Organisational Development

“…Despite having been in existence for more than fifteen years, Museum Night and other similar events have only recently come into the view of scholars (Jiwa et al, 2009;Evans, 2012;Dumbrăveanua, Tudoricua & Crăciuna, 2014;Gordin & Dedova, 2014). White Night was studied as a place marketing experience that allows community involvement in overcoming negative perceptions of the night-time economy and celebration of shared culture, history and identity (Jiwa et al, 2009).…”

“…Initially the idea of such an event, when museums stay open late into the night, started up in Berlin. In 1997 the Long Night of Museums (Lange Nacht der Museen) was held for the first time (Dumbrăveanua, Tudoricua & Crăciuna, 2014). A similar event entitled White Night (Nuit Blanche) was initiated in Paris in 2002 and sought to reconceptualise that time of the evening associated with antisocial behaviour (Evans, 2012).…”