Museums charge for admission

Many Museums charge for admission while others are free. Do you think the advantages of charging people for admission to museums outweigh the disadvantages?

1.

Museums are educational places which are beneficial for people in societies. However, these days, people have to pay an entrance fee to enter many museums. Although this phenomenon can lead to negative effects, I believe that there are for more positive effects.

It cannot be denied that price of tickets can bring about detrimental impacts to people, societies, and the museums themselves. From people's perspective, they are discouraged to visit the museum and not able to access useful information and knowledge freely, particularly the poor because they cannot afford such amount. From societies' perspective, citizens have fewer opportunities to access vitally significant places to learn history, science, art, and many other essential subjects. From museums' perspective, they cannot attain one of their objectives to education people. Moreover, they may have to close down as they lose more of their customers.

Despite aforementioned disadvantages, I am convinced that charing for admission fees brings about a myriad of advantages. Firstly, museums will have money to operate which covers their business overhead such as personal cost, equipment, electricity and water bills. Secondly, the museums can generate their exhibits and keep the place clean and good-looking. Having visited many museums myself, I have learnt that many museums which sell tickets are better than those that do not charge for tickets in terms of places, information, and management.

In conclusion, although I recognize that the museums ticket sales can cause drawbacks to stakeholders in societies, I believe that museums should not remain free for all so as to (=in order to)be operated and developed most effectively. 

2. 

Some museums have an admission charge while some do not. In my opinion, the drawbacks of an entrance fee are eclipsed by its benefits in the sense that the income will be ploughed back into operation and development of the museums.

A major disadvantage of an admission fee is the possibility of reducing the number of visitors. Museums house exhibitions and artefacts of great educational and historical value. If the chief aim of a museum is to introduce the local community, admission should be free to the public and visitors. Take some folk museums in Hong Kong, which preserve historic relics and display folk customs, for example. Admission to these folk museums, which are often monuments, is free of charge. If they had charged an entrance fee, many might have turned to other activities.

Granted, an entrance fee might have a negative effect on the admission figures, but an income is favorable to museums in terms of operation. Museums feature educational exhibitions at times, and this could not have been done without a sum of money expended on hiring professionals and buying equipment. The Hong Kong Space Museum, for instance, has monthly exhibitions on different issues and professional docents are employed to take visitors on a guided tour around the museum. This example speaks volumes about how a reasonable admission charge is advantageous to the operation of a museum.

In conclusion, the disadvantages of an admission fee are overshadowed by the benefits accruing from a stable source of income. Therefore, having weighed up the pros and cons, I am convinced that museums should charge an entrance fee for the sake of operation and development.