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Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Service Cymru (VAQAS) for Museums

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VAQAS Cymru

Information on the VAQAS Cymru scheme

Visits to tourist attractions

The main aim of the annual tourist attractions survey is to report visitor numbers to attractions throughout Wales which helps us to identify current trends.

Visitor survey 2011

A research study amongst overseas and UK visitors to Wales between April to September 2011.

VAQAS is a scheme which ensures high quality experiences at tourist attractions. 

What is VAQAS?

Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Service Cymru (VAQAS) is a quality assurance scheme administered by Visit Wales. It is an extension of the visitor and user standards already reached for Museum Accreditation. Participation in both schemes will help museums build even better experiences for visitors to Wales and museum visitors from our local communities.

The service provides a number of tools for attraction operators that can be used to enhance quality and spread best practice within the sector as well as providing a marketing edge. The service offers a consumer focused quality assessment helping to identify strengths and highlight developmental areas. It does not attempt to ‘grade’ attractions but assesses each on its own merits.

Museum VAQAS Cymru is only available to fully Accredited museums. Non-Accredited museums should see the information about ‘Establishing a Museum’ and ‘Museum Accreditation’. CyMAL covers the cost for all fully Accredited local museums in Wales to participate.

For further information about VAQAS please follow the link in the “related links” box on the right.

Why should museums participate?

Visitor figures to museums are increasing. According to Visit Wales, in 2011 the most visited type of attraction was museum / art galleries with 3,969,042 visitors (up just over 2% on 2010)*.

In a visitor survey conducted for CyMAL nearly one in ten people visited a museum solely or as a principle reason for their trip to Wales. Over a quarter of visitors on a trip to Wales also planned to visit a museum**.

We must ensure that every visitor’s experience of museums makes them want to return and to recommend them to others.

A VAQAS assessment provides museums with an independent assessment of provision from a visitor’s perspective.

* See the link to current Tourism Figures in the box on the right.

** See the link to Wales Visitor Survey 2011 in the box on the right.

Management Benefits

  • Quality assessment of your attraction: An in-depth assessment of all areas of your attraction that may impact on the quality of the visitor experience
  • One to one debriefing: Providing instant feedback on the visit and allowing other aspects of your operation to be discussed
  • Report: An important reference tool that highlights aspects of quality and any development issues which can then be used for internal and external operational planning.

Marketing Benefits

  • Use of Visit Wales' national quality marque with the accreditation of ‘Accredited Attraction’
  • Artwork of the accreditation for use in your brochure, promotional literature and website
  • Enhanced national and international promotion on the official tourism websites: Visit Wales (external link) and Visit Britain (external link)
  • Free plaque and e-artwork, and the opportunity to promote your business as an Accredited Attraction.

What do museums need to do?

VAQAS assessors will contact your museum. Individual museums can prepare for the visit by using the self assessment toolkit available from Visit Wales’ VAQAS web pages.

How Museum VAQAS works

  • VAQAS assessors will visit all Accredited museums on an advisory basis. They will provide a full debriefing of the visit and assessment reports. The reports will be sent to participating museums via CyMAL. 
  • VAQAS is a biennial scheme and so museums will be visited every 2 years.
  • Any Accredited Museum which does not wish to participate in the scheme should contact CyMAL and provide an explanation.
  • Please note that contact with museums will normally be made using CyMAL’s Accreditation contact list. As this is often the curator, please ensure that any front-of-house staff or volunteers are aware that visitors might include VAQAS assessors!
  • Museums which are unable to meet the VAQAS standard will not be permitted to display the VAQAS logo. They will have two years to reach the required standards before a further advisory visit is carried out.