Escapism or active involvement? A dimension of museum visitor experience

Abstract

Visitor experience is a highly important concept in the tourism industry, which has to be taken into consideration by museums as well, to awaken the interest of their new target groups. The functions and audience of these institutions are becoming much wider than they were earlier. Among other external and internal factors, selected exhibition topics, services, applied interpretation methods and the installation design impact the opportunity of visitors to collect memorable experiences. The present article provides a detailed narrative literature review regarding museum visitor experience. The author presents the results of a systematic literature review on „escapism” as an experience dimension of Pine and Gilmore’s 4E model (1998). The author’s aim is to provide an overview of the new museology paradigm and the significant trends affecting visitors’ attitudes and finally to insert them into a refined experience model, focusing on its escapism dimension.