Many museums charge for admission while others are free. Do you think the advantages of charging people for admission to museums outweigh the disadvantages? - Ielts Essay

Many museums charge for admission while others are free. Do you think the advantages of charging people for admission to museums outweigh the disadvantages?

Ielts Essay - Many museums charge for admission while others are free

Museums, in many countries, levy access fee from visitors; it is considered to be quite unjustified by many. I, however, feel that museums should be allowed to impose entrance charges, as its benefits easily exceed drawbacks of such a practice.

Charging entry fee from the visitors seems to be fully justified, since these facilities are repositories of wisdom and culture of any society: that store sculptures, manuscripts, books and arte-facts connected to the past of a society. These specimen need to be subjected to regular restoration and salvation process, which of course need expensive treatments. As government grants are quite inconsistent and irregular, taking some money from visiting individuals seems to be the only way that can help generate a regular revenues.

Apart from that, access fee makes it easy for the museum authorities to generate more revenues for ongoing and future enhancements and expansions. Archeological excavations and additions to the cultural experiences are ongoing processes that keep churning out new specimen at regular intervals. The museums need to make these new arrivals available for public display that of course need more space. Such an endeavor cannot be afforded unless a huge investment is made.

However, detractors of admission fee to these archives vehemently defend their viewpoint. They feel that museums are meant  to introduce a local community to the world, and charging entry fee from the visitors would defeat the whole purpose, since people would keep away from such locations and go somewhere else to entertain – presuming the fact that museums act as venues of entertainment.   

Henceforth, after assessing both the pros and cons of entry levies at museums, I am convinced that museums should be allowed to collect entry charges, as the benefits of charging entry outstrip drawbacks by miles.