Museums see record number of visitors; new museum tours in June

By Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia
18 May 2007 2035 hrs

SINGAPORE: All 45 museums in Singapore are seeing record visitor numbers.

4.26 million people visited museums last year - more than twice the record high numbers in 2005 where there were only around two million museum visitors.

This was revealed at the official launch of International Museum Day on Friday.

And to sustain the high numbers, new programmes are being introduced, including one that takes visitors back in time...on wheels!

All aboard the Rhino Bus, where old Singapore meets the new… in comfort and style.

Besides the footage of Singapore's yesteryears, there is also a tour guide.

This is just one of four new museum tours that will be available from June.

The tours are jointly-organised by the National Heritage Board and private tour operators.

"We felt it was timely now to launch these packages of tours because we believe there is more interest in heritage products and our various exhibits, because we're now bringing better quality shows.

"So although the infrastructure and hardware has been around, we feel it's timely now to launch these tours because we feel the software is in place and we're able to attract a larger [number] of visitors with these tours," says Michael Koh, CEO, National Heritage Board.

And as Guest of Honour on Friday's tour, Dr Lee Boon Yang, Information, Communications & the Arts Minister noted, there is still room for improvement.

"We need to do more research. I've already asked NHB, National Archives to help the tour operators come up with scripts that are more compelling. You just recite basic historical facts, not so interesting. You must bring it to life," says Dr Lee.

So if you are not sure why Sir Stamford Raffles is striking a pose on Raffles Landing, for example, these museum tours will have the answer and a lot more.

Besides learning on wheels, you can now look up scores of historical artefacts from the comfort of your home, thanks to the website www.sgcool.sg.

So far, there is already information on 6,000 artefacts and many more will be included soon. - CNA/yy