Visit to Immigration Museum in Melbourne - Essay Example

Visit to Immigration Museum Introduction This report seeks to critically examine that attractions offered at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne, Victoria. It analyses the strengths, weaknesses and attributes of the products and experiences offered from a visitor’s viewpoint. The Immigration Museum, located in Old Customs House within Melbourne’s central business district is a one of kind museum that focuses on exploring real-life stories of people across the world who come to Victoria. Through a mix of artifacts, moving images, memorabilia and personal and communal voices the museum tries to re-create real-life experiences of people who come to Australia from the moment of their arrival. It explores both the positive and negative aspects of their journey and their effect on the indigenous communities. By exploring such issues, the museum hopes to not only educate and inform its visitors but also to provide thought-provoking, engaging and moving experiences (Immigration Museum, 2013). Analysis of Products and Experiences Offered The Immigration Museum offers a wide range of engaging products and experiences. Firstly, the museum has exhibitions portraying different themes revolving around issues such as identity, journeys of immigrants, immigrant stories and timelines among many other themes. Secondly, the museum hosts a fashion fusion gallery showcasing different cultural attires and Muslim fashion trends. Thirdly, the museum has a discovery centre which incorporates a wide range of resources on immigration history, immigrant communities, Victorian icons, indigenous cultures and museum research among other resources. The discovery centre also offers research services on family history, community information and immigration history. Moreover, the museum hosts community cultural festivals. These festivals promote and celebrate cultural diversity in Victoria through food, crafts, dressing, dance and music. In addition to this, the museum has a café section where visitors can buy food, drinks and other refreshments. It also has a section with shops where visitors can buy various cultural artifacts and products that can act as souvenirs (Immigration Museum, 2013b). Strengths One of the key strengths of the Immigration Museum is that it is highly accessible. The museum can easily be accessed due to its location in an open area with adequate transport options, signage and roadmaps. Furthermore, it is easy to access the museum due to its affordable entry fee and free entry for students. Another major strength of the museum lies in its innovations. The museum offers innovative services, products and experiences which engage and captivate visitors. For example, the galleries in museum incorporate a mix of artifacts, moving images and memorabilia which tell stories and portray the real-life experiences of immigrants in an engaging and thought-provoking way (Immigration Museum, 2013b). Weaknesses Although the Immigration Museum is highly accessible and offers a wide range of innovative products and experiences, it falls short in a number of ways. Firstly, the museum lacks guides to guide visitors and provide relevant information regarding the areas of the museum that they are visiting. Secondly, a considerable of information available in the museum is not up to date. Generally, most of the information offered touches on different historic events pertaining to immigration. Moreover, there is limited access to certain areas in the museum. A number of section in the museum are closed thus visitors are not able to access these areas and experience what they have to offer. Additionally, the museum lacks warm and welcoming staff especially in the shop and cafe areas. A majority of these staff do not express any enthusiasm or receptiveness towards visitors who visit their shops and café. Attributes One of the key attribute of the Immigration Museum is accessibility. According to Weaver & Lawton (2010), accessibility can be viewed in terms of affordability, time and space. The location of the Immigration Museum is easy to locate and access. The museum is located at the heart of Melbourne’s CBD in an open area with adequate transport options, signage and roadmaps thus it is easy to access. Moreover, it is easy to access the museum due to its affordable entry fee and free entry for students. Secondly, the carrying capacity of the museum is relatively high. The museum has several floors which offer different services and experiences to visitors. For instance, the ground floor hosts the discovery centre, shop and café. On the other hand, the first floor incorporates the community gallery and exhibitions on immigrant stories and timelines. This in turn allows a large number of visitors to access the museum at the same time. Another important attribute of the Immigration Museum is its status. Status touches on the iconic attractions that attract tourists to the destination (Weaver & Lawton 2010). Generally, the museum offers a wide range of captivating and engaging experiences to its visitors. For instance, its hosts exhibitions on fashion, faith, identity, journeys of immigrants, immigrant stories and timelines. Lastly, context is also another relevant attribute of the Immigration Museum. According to Weaver & Lawton (2010), context refers to the characteristics of an attraction that are relevant or resonate with the external systems. The Immigration Museum is based in Melbourne, Victoria, a city that hosts an extremely large number of immigrants and visitors from different cultures each year. The services, products and experiences that the museum offers help to promote cultural awareness, appreciation and tolerance. Thus the context of the museum is relevant to its external systems. Conclusion This report has critically examined that attractions offered at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne, Victoria. It has analysed the strengths, weaknesses and attributes of the products and experiences offered from a visitor’s viewpoint. The findings of this report show that, through a mix of artifacts, moving images, memorabilia and personal and communal voices the Immigration Museum offers a wide range of educative , through-provoking and engaging products and experiences to its visitors. The key strengths of the museum lies in its accessibility and the innovative products and experiences it offers. However, the museum falls short when it comes to providing up-to date information, providing guides to provide guidance and information to visitors and catering to visitors in the café and shop areas. It is further established in this report that some of the key attributes of the Immigration Museum revolve around accessibility, its status, carrying capacity and context. References Immigration Museum (2013). About Us. Retrieved January 5 2014 Immigration Museum (2013b). Current Exhibitions. Retrieved January 5 2014 Weaver, D. & Lawton, L. (2010). Tourism Management. 4th Ed. Milton, Queensland: Wiley Australia. Read More