Museums in the COVID-19 pandemic: the impact of economic stimulus policy and market strategy of the national palace museums in Taiwan

This research examines the impact of the voucher-based economic stimulus policy and market strategy on museum traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan. We apply a univariate time-series model (ARMAX) to daily-visit data of the National Palace Museums in Taiwan during 2016-2021, showing results that the consumption voucher program effectively did boost the number of visitors amid overall declines in tourists due to the lockdown. A comparison among the National Palace Museum branches further reveals that holding more outdoor art events by one branch induced a more potent effect of the stimulus policy. The findings suggest that outdoor art events can be a helpful strategy for museums, which traditionally rely on indoor art exhibitions, to mitigate the impact of a pandemic.