Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Free entry to museums

16 March 2015


Editor, Forum Page
Straits Times

The National Heritage Board collects an annual admission 
revenue of $2 million and spends $151 million to maintain 
the museums during the last financial year. 

The Acting Minister of Culture, Community and Youth has
announced that his Ministry plans to provide free entry to 
museums for Singaporeans and permanent residents.

I suggest that free entries should be provided to everyone, 
including tourists and non-residents.

I suspect that the amount of admission fees that can be 
collected from these sources will probably not cover the
cost of the employees who are involved in collecting and
accounting for the revenue. 

Tourists spend a lot of money when they visit Singapore. 
Why ask them to pay a few dollars in admission fees?

Many countries provide free entry to museums and do not
attempt to differentiate between residents and non-residents.

Tan Kin Lian

2 comments:

  1. No kidding, but when I heard of it, I told my wife that my years of "complaint " about the fees just like the TV & Radio licence were finally answered!

    Back in my younger days, swinging by to the National Museum when visiting the National Library was a joy.

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  2. In Malaysia, young or old citizens pay a special lower rate to enjoy the local attractions, and we Singaporeans ask our Malaysian relatives to pay for us.
    In Singapore we have to pay a bomb to enter the Zoo or Bird Park as a family, this puts us all off to visit. Not smart, as domestic tourism could bring in more bucks for these attractions.
    Malaysia really boleh in many things that could be done "behind the scene". Singapore, all things "tak boleh lah".
    Very lucky to have Malaysian relatives, once we paid only 8 Ringgit traffic fine with their help.

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