Quebecers visited museums and exhibition centres less frequently last year than in 2024, with institutions seeing their first decline since resuming operations after the pandemic. In 2025, museums welcomed 11.7 million visitors, representing a five per cent decrease from the previous year when they recorded 12.4 million visits, according to a report published Wednesday by the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ). The figures remain below pre-pandemic attendance levels, which averaged 13.8 million visits between 2015 and 2019. The cultural institutions most affected by the decline were science interpretation centres, which saw a 23 per cent drop in attendance, as well as history, ethnology and archaeology museums, which saw an 11 per cent decline. Art museums and exhibition centres saw attendance decrease by seven per cent, according to the report. History, ethnology and archaeology interpretation centres, which account for the majority of the province’s venues (61 per cent), saw a four per cent increase in visitors. Attendance at science museums remained stable as the most popular among Quebecers, accounting for 33 per cent of visits for all types of institutions. The decline was felt most notably in Mauricie (−34 per cent), the Montérégie (−29 per cent), Lanaudière (−23 per cent) and Bas-Saint-Laurent (−20 per cent). Contrarily, other regions saw an increase in attendance, including the Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec (+27 per cent), the Laurentians (+25 per cent), Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine (+20 per cent) and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (+17 per cent). “About half (51 per cent) of the museum network’s admissions were recorded in the Montreal administrative region, a result comparable to that of 2024 (50 per cent), despite a two per cent decline in 2025 (6.0 million),” the Institute noted. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 30, 2026.
