Third International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

Rural tourism development is increasingly seen as a source for economic diversification in regions facing loss and restructuring of their traditional rural resource industries. One initiative in the pursuit of tourism economies are community museums, which often already exist in many communities. This paper introduces the results of a survey of visitors and interviews with museum directors, at eighteen community museums in southwestern Manitoba, Canada, conducted between June and September, 2015 and 2016. The questionnaire collected data regarding visitor demographics, purpose for visit, expectations, and satisfaction. Interviews with museum directors obtained information about museum operations. Visitors were primarily tourists (75.8%), many of whom planned their museum visit, illustrating that the museums are a touristic draw. Further, 30% of respondents indicated they would be visiting other museums in the region within the next few days, and 48.1% sometime in the future. Visitors reported high satisfaction for viewing and learning about museum displays. However, open-ended comments included statements that reflect difficulties in operations, such as desires for better lighting, air flow, labeling, and display organization. Museum directors elucidated these issues: the museums are run by an aging, volunteer staff, with little training in museum curation, that list a lack of volunteers, local interest, space, and operating capital as major difficulties. Some directors fear their museums will not exist within five to ten years. This paper argues that community museums, as sources of community identity and pride, should be recognized as an important and supported segment of sustainable rural tourism development.