The number of individuals who paid admission fees to museums increased by 78,733, or 15.4 per cent, to 589,082 in the three-year period from 1999 to 2001.

The most frequented places are the monuments and archaeological sites, figures released by the National Statistics Office show.

In 2001 these garnered 33.4 per cent of all admissions, while the archaeology and history museums catered for 27.9 per cent. From 2000 to 2001, paid group admissions decreased by 1.7 per cent, a small amount in comparison to the 6.1 per cent decrease from 1999 to 2000.

Slightly less than half of the 47 museums and historical sites surveyed by the NSO are owned by the state.

Another 16, or 34 per cent, are Church-owned, while a further eight are privately run.

Data provided by the NSO on museums and historical sites are for 2001.

The largest portion of museums, 28.1 per cent, are specialised museums. These include Church, maritime, and military museums, among others. 24.6 per cent of surveyed museums are classified as art museums, 19.3 per cent as archaeology and history museums, and 15.8 per cent as monuments and archaeological sites.

From the year 2000 to 2001, the number of full-time staff in museums decreased by 5.8 per cent from 190 to 179.

However, the number of part-time staff increased by 11.8 per cent. The number of part-time voluntary staff also increased, from 27 in 2000 to 46 in 2001.

Total museum expenditure in 2001 amounted to Lm1.7 million. Of this, wages constituted 52.5 per cent, while 26.4 per cent was spent on capital expenditure and 21.1 per cent on maintenance and operational costs.

Total income for the year 2001 reached almost Lm1.4 million, the bulk of which, 84.8 per cent, was collected from admission fees.

In the year 2001, museums and historical sites registered a total deficit of Lm0.3 million, the NSO said.