The bar chart presents data on the number of three categories of visitors – adults, visitors aged under 15 and special exhibition visitors – who attended a museum over a 15-year period, spanning from 1997 to 2012.
Overall, the majority of museum visitors were adults throughout the period, while special exhibition visitors represented a relatively small number. Additionally, there was an overall decrease in the number of visitors aged under 15 as opposed to those of the other two categories, which the figures recorded an upward trend, despite some fluctuations.
In terms of young and adult visitors, there was a remarkable difference between the two figures. While adult visitors consistently accounted for the largest proportion of museum attendance, the number of younger visitors decreased gradually over the period. In detail, the number of adults visiting the museum was 300,100 in 1997 before a slight rise to 302,200 in 2002. This was followed by a dramatic increase to 400,500 in 2007, after which declined to 380,000 by 2012. Meanwhile, the figure for visitors aged under 15 experienced a notable reduction from 120,000 to 82,300 over the 15-year period.
Moving on to the special exhibition visitors, although the figure witnessed a general increase, it remained as the lowest number among all three categories. Initially, it climbed marginally from 28,000 in 1997 to 29,200 in 2002. After that the figure went up considerably to 37,700 in 2007,before further increasing to 42,000 in 2012. As for totals, it stood at 448,100 in 1997. By 2002, the number decreased to 441,200 in 2002, before reaching its peak at 525,200 in 2007. Finally, the total number of visitors went down to 504,300, recording overall growth over the timeframe.