The context in which museums operate has evolved considerably over the last few decades, while the challenges they face have increased. The current need for museums to augment their own revenue and improve their performance coupled with the transformation of cultural models towards more experiential services has led many to adopt a consumer orientation in an effort to make museums and their collections increasingly accessible to visitors. This visitor orientation is more than just a wish to bring culture closer to the public, but rather a desire to understand visitors’ demands and thus adapt to their expectations. This paper seeks to explore the relation between visitor orientation and performance in museums. Specifically, the study focuses on technological innovation and tradition as two alternative strategies to respond to visitor expectations. An empirical study was conducted for a sample of 491 European museums. Evidence is found to support the notion that the impact of visitor orientation on economic and market performance depends on how visitors’ needs are perceived and on museums’ commitment to either innovation or tradition and custody. Whereas technological innovation has a positive impact on revenue and economic performance, the impact of custodial orientation is negative. Custodial orientation only proves effective in market terms in large museums but does not prove effective in economic terms, for either small or large museums. This paper offers a guide as to how to deal with visitor orientation in cultural and heritage organizations. Although an orientation to innovate geared towards satisfying visitor needs would seem the logical way for museums to increase visitor numbers, an approach involving too much innovation, often leading museums to becoming shows, has been widely criticized.
