The Royal B.C. Museum is the top museum in Canada, according to the millions of travellers who submitted reviews to TripAdvisor.ca.
The online travel resource, which aggregates information about everything from hotels to restaurants, identified the RBCM as part of its Travelers’ Choice awards.
“It’s not a survey. It’s not a matter of voting. Instead, we look at the quality, quantity and recency of reviews to determine the best attractions, hotels and restaurants,” said Kevin Carter, senior public relations manager for TripAdvisor in Boston.
“We have over 315 million visitors each month and more than 190 million reviews and opinions on the site. So it’s the wisdom of the crowds [that determines the rankings].”
The Royal B.C. Museum was followed on the list by the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto), the Canadian War Museum (Ottawa), the Royal Tyrrell Museum (Drumheller, Alta.) the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Montreal), the Museum of Anthropology (Vancouver), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), the Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau), the Canadian Children’s Museum (Gatineau) and the Museum at Campbell River.
No Canadian museums cracked the global top 10, which was led by the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and the State Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Scott Cooper, vice-president of exhibitions for the RBCM, said the museum is honoured to be recognized in the Canadian category. “It’s always special to get awards voted on by industry, but there’s something even more special when it’s people, visitors, guests telling you that you’re the best,” he said.
While staff have never studied the impact of this kind of recognition on the museum’s bottom line, Cooper said it can only help.
He said he believes it’s the museum’s welcoming atmosphere that sets it apart.
“What we try to do with every single person who comes through our door is make sure it will mean something to them. We create a place that is fun, that is enjoyable, that is educational and that is something they will take home and feel it was time well spent and money well spent.”
