(Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, 2019) Gürel, Eda; Nielsen, A.
This study segments the various types of art museum visitor using two-step cluster analysis. It goes beyond
a simple demographic categorization of visitors and investigates why people visit museums, in particular what
experiences they seek in museums based on their preferences and participation in various leisure activities.
The sample was selected from among visitors to two art museums in Genoa, Italy. Face-to-face interviews
were conducted with 400 visitors. The resulting 394 useable questionnaires yielded two clusters – Cultural
Omnivores and Art Museum Univores – providing evidence for the omnivore/highbrow univore thesis described
in the literature. The data suggest that the experiences visitors look for in museums, their preferences regarding
various leisure activities, and their attendance at both highbrow and popular cultural events provide an
effective means of segmenting art museum visitors. The theoretical contributions and managerial implications
are discussed.
