Museums in Switzerland attracted more people in 2010 than cinemas, according to figures published by the Association of Swiss Museums (AMS), on Monday.

Swiss museums last year drew 18.4 million visitors compared with 18.3 million in 2009, said the AMS secretary general, David Vuillaume, in an interview with the Lausanne newspaper, 24 Heures.

Total entries into cinemas were 15.1 million. Vuillaume also pointed out that with its 1,900 museums, including zoos, Switzerland was one of the top three worldwide, together with Austria and the Netherlands.

He commented that only 4.5 per cent of museums had a budget of more than SFr5 million ($6.57 million).

Vuillaume  added that the expectations of the public were getting “higher and higher”.

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