449,477 people visited the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao between June and August in what was the best summer in its history
Summer 2022 was the Museum’s most successful since it opened, with a total of 449,477 visitors, attesting to the Museum’s recovery in the wake of the pandemic, in the year of its 25th anniversary. August was the standout month, with 195,411 people and a daily average of 6,297 visitors, surpassing by 7.4% (13,406 people) what had been the best August to date, that of 2018, with 182,005 visitors.
In turn, the months of June and July, with 106,136 and 147,930 visitors respectively, were the second best in the Museum’s history, after 2018. The summer week with the most visitors was from August 8 to 14, with 50,434 people, although the day with the highest numbers was Thursday August 18, with 8,800 visitors.
In terms of geographical origin, 65% of summer visitors came from outside of Spain (similar to the years prior to the pandemic), with large numbers of French visitors, who account for 18% of the total, followed by people from Germany (7%), the Netherlands (7%), the United Kingdom (6%) and Italy (5%).
Ten per cent of the total number of summer visitors were from the Basque Country, thus confirming the success of the exhibition Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture among local residents, followed by those from Catalonia (5%) and Madrid (5%).
As of August 31, the cumulative number of 776,752 visitors constitutes 3% less than the same period in 2019 and 7% less than in 2018, due to the lower number of visitors during the first few months of the year.
Motion
One of the key reasons for the strong summer season was, without a doubt, the opportunity to enjoy Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture, an exhibition exploring the artistic dimension of the automobile, which ends on September 18. Due to the great success of the exhibition sponsored by Iberdrola and the Volkswagen Group, the Museum decided several weeks ago to extend its opening hours so that people who have not yet been able to visit or who wish to enjoy the experience all over again can do so between 9 am and 8 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and from 9 am to 9 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
