Mind the Gap: Prediction and Performance in Respect to Visitor Numbers at the New Acropolis Museum

Abstract

This paper attempts to understand why the initial predictions of attendance at the New Acropolis Museum proved highly inaccurate when compared against visitor numbers recorded in the five years following the museum’s inauguration. It will be argued that the exaggerated estimates of visitation at the museum are the result of political factors, primarily the interest in bringing about the return of the Elgin Marbles to Athens. The desire for the disputed sculptures encouraged Greek officials, as well as campaigners seeking the repatriation of the contentious sculptures, to inflate projections of attendance in an effort to bolster claims for the restitution of the Marbles.