We’re pleased to share the findings of the 2026 National Visitor Survey which collected insights from 135 visitors across museums and galleries nationwide.

This survey provides valuable insights into visitor motivations, satisfaction, barriers to participation, and emerging trends in audience behaviour.

These findings help us advocate for the sector, support your local planning and build a clearer understanding of how our communities experience the stories and taonga we care for.

In summary: this year's data shows similar trends to previous years. Our visitors are mostly female (61.2%), aged 60-69, Pākehā (55%), from New Zealand (60%), locals (36%), and educated with a tertiary education or higher (78.3%). Visitor satisfaction is high, with 58.6% rating their visit 10/10

Other key highlights include:

• Visitors reported many benefits from their visits, including but not limited to: gaining deeper understandings of the world (59.8%), learning new things (60%), and having an opportunity to reflect (39%).
• Visitors spend moderate amounts of time at museums and galleries. 26.6% of visitors stayed for 1-2 hours and 22.2% of visitors stayed 41-60 minutes.
• Overall visitor satisfaction has improved from an average rating of 8.9/10 in 2025, to 9.3/10 in 2026.
• 64% of visitors were there for the first time, up 10% from last year.
• Motivations for visiting were varied, with an increase in reasons of general interest (31.3%) and a decrease in visitation for a specific exhibition (17.2%).

Download the Infographic here.