Museums and historical sites registered a total deficit of just over Lm200,000 last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Individual paid admissions to museums in the three-year period 2002-4 increased by 419,515, or 73 per cent, to 996,851.

The most frequented museums were art museums, with 31.4 per cent of the total. Archaeology and history museums were the next mostly frequented sites (29.2 per cent), followed by military museums (12.4 per cent) and monuments and sites (12.1 per cent).

The least popular museums - with just one per cent of all visitors - were maritime museums.

Between 2003 and 2004, paid group admissions increased by 43 per cent.

Paid admissions by individuals to museums in Gozo also increased over this period, from 69,485 in 2002 to 114,245, an increase of 64.4 per cent. The most popular places in Gozo were monuments and sites which garnered 62.6 per cent of all individual paid admissions.

From the year 2003 to 2004, the number of full-time staff employed by museums increased from 177 to 280 while the number of part-time staff also increased by 36.4 per cent.

The number of voluntary staff showed an increase as well, from 106 in 2003 to 112 in 2004.

Total museum expenditure in 2004 amounted to just over Lm2.65 million.

Of this, 70 per cent went on staff expenditure, while 3.9 per cent went on capital expenditure and 5.5 per cent on maintenance and operational costs.

Total income for the year 2004 reached just over Lm2.4 million, the bulk of which - 64.1 per cent - were collected from admission fees.

The NSO said that 28 of the 54 surveyed museums and historical sites in Malta are state owned. Another 14 are Church-owned, while a further 12 are privately run.

The largest portion of museums - 28.8 per cent - are specialised museums and include religious, banking, toy and theatre museums, among others.

20.3 per cent of surveyed museums are classified as archaeology and history museums, 18.6 per cent as art museums and 13.6 per cent as monuments and sites.

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