Museum practice has not returned to its level before the health crisis. According to the 2025 Cultural Outings Barometer, published on September 18 by the Ministry of Culture and carried out with Crédoc, 33% of French people have visited a museum or an exhibition in the last twelve months, compared to 41% in 2019, the reference year before Covid. After an increase in 2024, when this proportion reached 39%, it returns to its 2023 level. The decrease of eight points compared to 2019 constitutes the most significant decline among the different cultural practices studied.
Visiting monuments is more resilient: 61% of French people say they have visited a monument in 2025, compared to 64% in 2019 and 2024. It thus remains almost twice as widespread as visiting museums and exhibitions. Other cultural outings have, for the most part, returned to levels close to those before the pandemic. Cinema attendance concerns 57% of French people, compared to 59% in 2019, while that of live shows is identical to its pre-crisis level (47%). On the other hand, theater recorded a decline of three points, to 20%. Libraries and media libraries increased slightly, from 32% to 33%.
The barometer does not specifically comment on the reasons for the decline in museum practice. It nevertheless notes a decrease in all cultural outings between 2024 and 2025, of between one and six points depending on the activities. This development does not make it possible to determine whether the 2025 results reflect a lasting change in behavior or a change after the resumption of cultural outings observed in 2024.
Apparently contradictory results
However, these data seem to contradict those of Patrimostat 2026, published on September 11 by the ministry. According to provisional data collected from a panel of establishments, national museums and exhibition venues recorded 32.8 million admissions in 2025, an increase of 1% compared to 2024. Attendance was therefore maintained despite several closures, notably that of the National Museum of Modern Art at the Center Pompidou from September.
This contradiction is only apparent. The two studies do not measure the same phenomenon. The barometer is based on a survey carried out online among 3,000 people residing in France, aged 15 and over. It measures the proportion of the population having made at least one visit during the year, independently of the number of outings carried out. It also takes into account visits made abroad by French residents, but excludes those of foreign tourists in France.
Patrimostat counts, on the contrary, the entries recorded by the establishments, whatever the geographical origin of the visitors and therefore foreign tourists who we know constitute a significant proportion of visitors to major museums. The provisional data for 2025 also relates to a panel mainly composed of establishments placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, and not to all Museums of France.
If the barometer does not make it possible to measure the weight of foreign tourists in the attendance of French museums, it nevertheless sheds light on the place of tourism in the museum practices of French residents. In 2025, 44% of visitors surveyed associate their last visit with a stay including at least one night, including 30% in commercial accommodation and 14% in non-commercial accommodation, mainly with relatives. Visits without overnight stays nevertheless remain in the majority (55%).
