At 11: 40 on the 15th, with a 20-year-old college student named Liu checking in from the meridian gate, the Palace Museum welcomed its 17 millionth audience this year. This is also the first time that the number of visitors received by the Palace Museum has exceeded 17 million, setting a new historical record.
In 2009, the annual number of visitors to the Forbidden City exceeded 10 million for the first time. Since then, the number of visitors has continued to grow by millions every year, exceeding 15 million in 2012, 16 million in 2016 and 17 million for the first time this year, constantly refreshing the record of annual visitors, and deservedly becoming the most visited museum in the world.
According to the statistics of the Palace Museum, according to the audience data this year, 40% of the audience are under 30 years old, 24% are 30-40 years old, and 17.5% are 40-50 years old. It can be seen that young audiences, especially those born in the 1980s and 1990s, have become the “main force” to visit the Palace Museum, followed by those born after 00. In terms of geographical distribution, the audience from Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu and other neighboring provinces and regions is the largest, with a total of about 4.68 million people, accounting for 27.5% of the total number. Among the municipalities directly under the Central Government, Beijing has the highest enthusiasm for visiting, with 417,000 people, while Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing have 310,000, 214,000 and 102,000 people respectively.
In 2018, the Palace Museum imposed a daily current limit of 80,000 for 76 days, which also set a new record. The number of days in 2017 is 52, in 2016 it is 47, and in 2015 it is 32. The number of days to implement the 80,000-meter-limit measure is increasing every year, which shows that the audience’s enthusiasm for visiting is rising. In addition, there have been new changes in the regional distribution of visitors, and the areas outside the central axis have been favored by more viewers. The number of visitors to permanent specialized museums such as the Watch Museum and the Treasure Museum has been increasing. In 2018, the number of visitors reached 5.24 million, double that of 2013. These data prove that the Palace Museum is attracting more and more public attention, especially young people.