Museum Card’s decade of success drives up admission prices, new cap introduced
The Museum Card, introduced in Finland in 2015, has nearly doubled the number of annual museum visitors over the past decade. However, its success has also contributed to a significant rise in admission prices, with some museums reporting prices doubling since the card’s launch.
The increase in ticket prices has been influenced by general cost growth, including inflation, but also by the Museum Card’s reimbursement model. Until now, museums received funding based on their standard admission price, earning on average about half of the full ticket price per Museum Card visitor. This created an incentive for museums to raise prices, as higher admission fees meant greater revenue from the card. According to Yle, around half of all paid museum visits are now made using the Museum Card, making it a crucial funding source for institutions.
New price cap to curb rising costs
Starting next year, a price cap of €23.50 will be introduced to limit the amount museums are compensated for Museum Card visits. The cap is set at roughly the current price of the most expensive museum tickets in Finland. While museums can still charge more than €23.50, they will only receive compensation up to that amount.
Pekka Impiö, CEO of FMA Creations, the organization behind the Museum Card, states that the cap aims to break the cycle where the system encouraged price increases. He notes that rising admission fees have not reduced the number of paid visits, suggesting strong demand remains (Yle).
Museums acknowledge price pressures
Several museums, including the National Gallery, Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), Serlachius Museum in Mänttä, and Sara Hildén Art Museum in Tampere, confirm that the Museum Card has contributed to higher ticket prices. The National Gallery and HAM directly attribute some of the increases to the card, alongside inflation. While the Serlachius and Sara Hildén museums acknowledge the card’s role in creating upward pressure, they deny that prices were raised solely because of it.
Despite the price increases, museums emphasize the positive impact of the Museum Card. Jonna Hurskainen, Head of Brand and Partnerships at HAM, describes it as having made museums "trendy." The upcoming price cap is generally seen as a good solution, though its effect on consumer prices remains uncertain.
Some museum directors, such as Maija Tanninen-Mattila of the National Gallery, suggest that future pricing models may include additional fees for Museum Card users, particularly for large-scale exhibitions. Hurskainen adds that price increases are driven by rising costs, not profit motives, and hopes the cap will be adjusted if exhibition production expenses continue to grow (Yle).