Québec museum visits fall 5% to 11.7 million

Québec museums recorded 11.7 million visits in 2025, a 5% decline from the previous year, according to new provincial statistics.

The Institut de la statistique du Québec release published September 30 covers museums, exhibition centres and interpretation sites in the province. The headline total masks large regional differences.

Attendance rose most in Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec, up 27%, followed by the Laurentides at 25%, Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine at 20% and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean at 17%. Smaller gains were reported in Chaudière-Appalaches, Centre-du-Québec and Capitale-Nationale.

Several regions moved in the opposite direction. Visits fell 34% in Mauricie, 29% in Montérégie, 23% in Lanaudière and 20% in Bas-Saint-Laurent.

The figures describe visits rather than unique people, so one person can be counted more than once. They also show provincial and regional totals, not a performance ranking for individual institutions.

Illustrative image: Zalfa Imani / Unsplash Licence. Cropped and resized; the gallery shown is not identified as a Québec museum.