Museums, Marketing, Tourism And Urban Development. The British Museum – A Successful Model For Romanian Museums

The continuous growth of cultural influence upon the modern society combined with the increasing role of tourism in the economic life of cities, led to the development of the “emblem museums”. The “emblem museum” usually becomes a touristic attraction objective that must be visited by tourists from a city, and by taking the decision of prolonging their staying in that city, the tourists will increase the amount of money they spend in that location. The “emblem museums” represent a way to develop urban tourism, gain competitive advantage and attract new sources of income for the city`s economy. A recent study showed that 3 out of 10 tourists visited London for its museums. One of them is the British Museum, which, in 2010 was on the 2nd place in the top10 world`s most visited museums. This study aims to present the British Museum from the mix marketing perspective, from the visitor’s point of view, and to present some of the good practices this giant is using to attract more visitors and to maintain its competitive advantage, practices which may be used by Romanian museums in order to increase the visitors number and to obtain a better position in the economy life of Romanian cities.