John Gibb and Chris Morris, Otago Museum numbers inflated, Otago Daily Times, 24 October 2015
The Otago Museum has admitted counting errors previously inflated annual visitor numbers in 2013-14 by 65%.
The museum has blamed a software problem for significantly overestimating its much-touted attendance figures.
Visitor numbers in the 2013-14 financial year were originally reported at 509,000, its latest annual report said. But a revised counting system showed the new estimate for that period was actually 307,502, a difference of 201,498.
The museum mainly uses cameras and a software system to count its visitors. Head counts are also conducted to recalibrate the system.
Previously, the award-winning museum has said it attracted 600,000 visitors in 2009.
…
Previous museum attendance figures had been subject to external audit.
Museum director Dr Ian Griffin said counting visitors was an art as well as a science, and annual attendance numbers remained an estimate. He did not wish to comment on what had happened before he became museum director in 2013.
People should be ”quite careful” about saying previous attendance figures had been inflated, he said.
”I wasn’t there at the time and I don’t know how it was counted.
”I’m certainly not being critical of how things were done previously.”
From March 12 last year, the software had been ”reviewed and updated and the number of people counted is more accurate”.
