Dippy the dinosaur boosts museum shop coffers
Dippy is on a two-year tour of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and five regions across England.
He is not just a pretty face – Dippy the dinosaur has been a money-spinner on its UK tour.
The 26-metre-long dinosaur skeleton cast, which was on show at the Natural History Museum for almost 40 years, is travelling around the country.
And a report demonstrates the extent of Dippy’s money-making powers.
Dippy kicked off its tour last year at the Dorset County Museum.
According to the National Museums Partnership Report, the local area “benefited from £2.2 million of visitor spend as a result of Dippy on Tour”.
And the museum saw an almost tenfold boost in its income, up from £38,293 to £372,013, its own report shows.
Shop spend, where knitted dinosaurs and dinosaur Monopoly were on sale, enjoyed an even bigger year-on-year increase, from £9,531 to £188,152.
Dippy is on a two-year tour of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and five regions across England.
The National Museums Partnership Report says that UK museums loaned nearly 450,000 objects across the globe last year.
Nearly 70,000 objects from UK national collections were on display in cultural venues around the world in 2018.
The report, published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, comes as UK museums face increasing demands for objects to be returned to their original countries.
Arts minister Rebecca Pow said: “We know that our fantastic national museums are a cultural magnet that attract millions of visitors from around the world every year.
“I’m delighted to see that by loaning objects to local, regional and international galleries, last year more than 33 million extra people got to enjoy and engage with treasures from our national collection. It’s UK soft power at its best, and benefits all those involved in these innovative partnerships.”
