It is this context that explains the increasing dependency on business sponsorship, the blockbuster exhibitions, the expansion of the museum shop, the growth of 'infotainment' and the discovery of the tourist market. Tourists have always been one of the many groups visiting museums and galleries and, although public institutions cannot be seen to explicitly favour some groups over others, many managers in these institutions are keen to increase tourist visitation rates. One of the main motivations for this push could be that the rituals of tourism are becoming increasingly compatible with the new style museums. In a report outlining a cultural tourism strategy for Victoria, one of the reasons put forward encouraging museums to increase their tourist marketing was that tourists were phenomenal spenders in the museum shop. The example was cited of tours of the Museum of Victoria which were conducted by a group called Elderhostel, a company specialising in educational tours for the over 60s.
Shopping is integral to the tourist experience.
The rituals of buying souvenirs and taking photos come from the desire to capture pieces of the trip, to have commodities that last long after the holiday is over. Of course, locals also go to the museum shop. It's hard to find any sort of leisure nowadays that doesn't involve consumption. But the evidence is that tourists tend to use the museum differently, and that part of this difference includes spending bigger and faster in the museum shop. Efforts to entice more tourists into museums and galleries are not as successful as anticipated.