Visitors to museums have decreased by 10 per cent when compared with last year, according to figures released by the National Statistics Office.

The number of visitors to the 68 museums and historical sites across Malta and Gozo fell to 1.9 million admissions from some 2.1 million over the last year, making it the fourth such decrease since 2008.

More than half the sites are owned by private or Church organisations while the rest are owned by the Government. Nearly a third are managed by voluntary or non-profit organisations.

Art museums had the highest proportion of admissions, at 35 per cent. Monuments and sites, and archaeology and history museums continued to be the most popular, with 28 and 25 per cent of total admissions respectively.

More than three quarters of the museums and historical sites had a regularly updated website, while 27 per cent of all sites had a digitisation programme for its collections, the NSO said.

Total expenditure for active museums and historical sites in 2011 reached €12.2 million; an average of €179,642 per entity while the total income for these organisations amounted to €13.1 million, an average of €192,169 per site.