Abstract
Cultural institutions increasingly face declining visitor numbers and must adapt to shifting visitor behaviors. This development threatens cultural diversity and places institutions in precarious positions. While the causes for this trend can be manifold, understanding visitor preferences is critical for identifying innovative revival propositions. However, existing research mainly focuses on revival strategies in commercial contexts, leaving a gap regarding non-commercial sectors. Indeed, service science is much needed, with its knowledge and methods, to help neighboring disciplines understand visitor preferences and suggest innovative revival propositions. Addressing this gap, we first develop a taxonomy and then analyze quantitative survey data from 5,502 (non-)visitors to identify reasons for visiting, reasons for visitor churn, and promising revival propositions for each visitor segment. Based on these insights, we develop a framework that advances the understanding of visitor revival in non-commercial contexts. The framework enables practitioners to meet evolving visitor expectations and apply innovative revival propositions.
