Payment at heritage sites

Paul Busuttil (August 22) suggests that as a Maltese citizen he should not be charged to enter museums.

It is clear from his reasoning that Mr Busuttil does not have the slightest inkling of how expensive the running of heritage sites is.

I speak as a person who for the last 20 years has been solidly involved in the fields of heritage preservation and management. From their nature, museums and heritage sites tend to be both labour intensive and expensive to run.

Great resources are required to set them up, to train the staff, to keep them attractive and relevant and to acquire new exhibits. This, of course, not to mention, the high costs involved in marketing, insuring and securing museums and collections.

Away from the moral implications of whose our heritage is, I strongly believe that none of our museums or heritage sites should be free. Experience has shown that anything given for free goes unappreciated. Suffice to say that when the government museums were opened for free on the last Sunday of the month attendance was negligible.

With the introduction of Heritage Malta, the sacred principle of self-sustainability for museums was also adopted by the state. In North America and in Western Europe, museums fund themselves through gate money, sale of merchandise and refreshments and collection of donations. In addition they attract public and private sponsorship. In Malta, all public museums and heritage sites are directly funded by the state but this funding is almost limited to the cost of labour. For new projects etc, Heritage Malta needs to raise its own funding through other sources as already explained. It would certainly be ideal if the state pumped more funding into this sector, but we all know that there are other more pressing priorities.

For non-governmental organisations, such as Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna and Din l-Art Helwa, who also operate a number of popular museums and heritage sites, the reality is even more difficult. For not only is no state funding received, but a good part of the revenue generated ends up being gobbled by the taxman in the shape of VAT and other taxes leaving very little to be invested in the ongoing development of the attractions. In fact, the only reason why any of these societies manage to pull through is only thanks to their many selfless volunteers who offer their time and energy to help out.

On a final note, if Mr Busuttil wishes to start entering for free in any of our (not his) museums and heritage sites, why not take up a family membership as offered by Heritage Malta or FWA and DLH. Joining any of these schemes will certainly prove beneficial both to him and his family. It will also give him the opportunity to directly contribute towards the upkeep of HIS heritage.