Small museums have not yet recovered fully from the coronavirus crisis and visitor numbers are still down an average of 33% on 2019, according to new figures from the museum association.

Last year, the association’s 475 members recorded 30.9 million visitors, compared with 32.6 million in the last pre-pandemic year. But while big museums were back to normal, medium-sized institutions were still recording 18% fewer visitors and small local ones were doing even worse.

Small museums, which are often dependent on volunteers, are also likely to be hit hardest by the government’s decision to increase value-added tax across the cultural sector from 9% to 21%, adding to ticket prices.

“Even though visitor numbers are recovering, we know that lots of museums are finding it hard to keep their head above water,” said association director Vera Carasso. “Continually rising costs are causing problems in many places.”

Some 23 million of last year’s 31 million visitors were down to people who live in the Netherlands, some 1.44 million of whom now have a museum discount card. Museum cardholders visit an average of 6.6 museums a year.