The Cover.cn:

In recent years, the popularity of museums has been on the rise, and it's difficult to make reservations for some museums. How do you view this phenomenon, and what are the proposed solutions? Thank you.

Liu Yang:

Thank you for your question. The issue you mentioned is one that the NCHA has also been paying close attention to. Indeed, in recent years, the "museum fever" has continued to heat up, and the public's enthusiasm for visiting museums is rising. This is especially the case during the winter and summer holidays and other holidays, when it can be difficult to book tickets to some museums.

Recently, we conducted a survey on this issue, selecting 45 large and medium-sized museums across the country, including national first-grade museums, provincial museums across 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, as well as some distinctive local museums. We found that the difficulty in booking mainly occurs at large, popular museums, which underscores the gap between the growing needs and the unbalanced and inadequate offerings of refined cultural products. At the same time, some ticket scalpers buy up and stockpile tickets, interfering with the normal operation and order.

In response, the NCHA acted promptly and undertook a series of measures. On July 14, we issued a notice on providing better museum services during holidays and many museums across the country have acted accordingly. A lot of museums extended opening hours and visiting capacity. The Palace Museum and Sichuan Museum have opened fast-booking and check-in channels for minors, the elderly, the disabled and other groups in special need, shortening queue times. In terms of rules-based management, many museums have introduced special guidelines to regulate third-party docents and prohibit commercial filming, improving the visitor experience. The National Museum of China recently teamed up with the Beijing public security authority to crack down on ticket scalpers who resell free tickets. In terms of publicity and information service, many museums release ticket information in a timely manner and update real-time visitor numbers in exhibition halls. Meanwhile, many museums have issued statements advising visitors to jointly resist "ticket agents" and other behaviors that disrupt the order of visits.

Here, I would also like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the hardworking frontline museum staff. Next, we will continue to strengthen efforts in the following aspects: First, we will expand service offerings to meet people's needs. We will promote museums that are less well-known yet worth visiting to provide the public with more choices. Museums will be guided to upgrade their services by launching more top-quality and diverse exhibitions and educational activities. Second, we will better cooperate with other departments to form a joint regulatory force. For example, we will move forward in cooperation with public security authorities. Together, we will devise specific measures to crack down on ticket scalpers to intensify regulation. Third, museums should innovate and improve booking services. They will be advised to do so by setting time slots and arranging flexible ticket releases, as well as upgrading reservation systems. With extended opening hours, increased visitor capacity and other measures, museums will be able to accommodate more visitors. At the same time, a blacklist system will be established to counter malicious ticket purchases, ticket stockpiling, and no-shows by increasing the costs for doing so. Finally, it is necessary to strengthen the qualification and certification for third-party docents, maintain the order of visits and optimize visitor experience. Thank you.