A CAMPAIGN highlighting the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery as a major Launceston tourism location will be developed in 2016.
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The Launceston City Council on Monday received the QVMAG’s annual report, which outlined a successful year for the facility in 2014.
The museum recorded a 3.5 per cent increase in overall attendance for the year, which was aided by increased school group bookings.
Visitor operations manager Janet Keeling said 53 per cent of visitors were residents of Launceston, 19 per cent of people were from other areas of Tasmania, another 19 per cent from interstate and only 9 per cent from other countries.
Ms Keeling said the education section’s fee structure service, designed for schools and other groups, tallied a 44.6 per cent increase in its income.
The museum had 357 school group visits, comprised of 7372 children an 1428 adults.
‘‘Schools have embraced the programs, which assist them in addressing the requirements of the national curriculum, and they can participate in activities run by our education officers or other QVMAG experts from the natural sciences and history sections as well as the planetarium,’’ she said.
Last year also saw a 5.2 per cent increase in museum and art gallery shop spending, with an average spend of $24.06 a customer, or $2.18 a visitor.
‘‘The donation boxes at both sites have continued to provide an opportunity for imaginative staff to come up with intriguing ideas to interest first-time and repeat visitors who may consider making a donation,’’ Ms Keeling said.
‘‘This has been successful again this year with a 2 per cent increase in donations.’’
The museum last year had 12 new art, photography and science exhibitions, and 22 temporary exhibitions from QVMAG’s art, history and science collections.
A government grant system has been extended into the 2015-16 financial year, and plans for a five-year funding agreement are being formed.
The facility had 1,374,118 unique hits on its website last year, mainly thanks to its History Online collections database.
The report said salary costs had also been reduced, due to ‘‘further adjustment of museum attendant hours, and staff opting to work less time’’.
