Ärimudelite analüüs Eesti muuseumite näitel
Authors: Prikk Birgit 
Published: August 2023

According to the author of this article, the developments of Estonian museums are most influenced by the country's cultural policy and funding model. As emphatically non-profit organizations, museums today are at the service of society and seek to create value in their own unique way through collecting, preserving, researching and presenting historical memory. This does not cause any problems as long as a museum functions as a memory institution, since the functions of a memory institution are largely supported by the state or municipality. In the case of a museum as an attraction, however, the bar of ambitions must be set higher and the availability of competitive relevant competences and resources must be ensured. Since the state or local government is the main financier of most of the major museums, the entire planning logic of museums mainly focuses on the funding conditions stated in the laws and regulations. However, this significantly inhibits the development of activities related to the raising of private revenue, as resources are directed towards the fulfilling of conditions set by the ‘state commission’. For most museums, the ambition to generate private revenue is quite low—their activities are constrained by limited resources and the real revenue potential is largely untapped. In order to compete as an attraction in the experience services market, museums must also invest in the development of an experiential visitor environment and additional services throughout the visitor's journey. New trends are no longer set in years, but in days. Expectations that are raised by the market demand must be responded to more quickly, for timeliness has become equivalent to relevance in creating expositions and developing the visitor environment. Both from the perspective of the visitor environment and taken as a whole, it is possible to detect trends that are influenced by the introduction of new technologies and intellectual property, as well as social media developments and lifestyle trends. Museums as visitor environments must adapt more and more to the expectations and needs of visitors in terms of their interests, lifestyle and everyday needs. To provide an experiential visitor experience, it is not enough to just organize an attractive exhibition, all stages of the visitor's journey must be thoroughly thought out and appropriately furnished. It is only by doing this that it is possible to operate sustainably in an ever-increasingly competitive situation. In summary, it has to be acknowledged that visitors' expectations of museums are becoming more and more demanding, and in order to remain competitive ever greater effort must be directed towards experience. Both as research and educational institutions and as tourist attractions, museums all over the world face challenges that require change. Whether and how these challenges are accepted and overcome depends on the maturity stage of the market in a particular country and the financing model of the museums. Museums operating with the support of the state can afford to have greater freedom in undertaking educational and research activities and can afford to forgo activities with commercial and entertainment content. Such museums can afford to develop visitor environments that directly and exclusively dovetail with the value space and operational objectives of the museum as a memory institution. If the revenue goals are set at a high level, in addition to research and educational activities, museums must also contribute to the development of an attractive visitor environment and additional services. Otherwise, they will not be competitive in the market in comparison with other attractions and other recreational services.