The Urban Museum as a Creative Tourism Attraction: London Museum Lates Visitor Motivation

The urban museum has become a multi-functional institution that transcends the functional display of artifacts. The museum has become, in cities, a hybrid institution that keeps its doors open late to support a wide variety of special events. This study explored London’s “Museum Lates” programs and event characteristics, theoretical views of museums as cultural and creative tourism attractions. Furthermore, the study applied the contextual model of learning to understand visitor attendance motivations. The authors employed an interpretive approach using interviews with two types of participants: event visitors and event coordinators. The findings suggest that attendees possess personal, physical, and socio-cultural motivations for participating in “Museum Lates” events. The characteristics of late events—extraordinary quality and evening-time atmosphere—produce different effects from those of current museum exhibitions held during regular operating hours. “Museum Lates” events can contribute to achieving cultural sustainability, adding a cultural construct to the traditional three pillars of sustainability.