Edutainment, a portmanteau of education and entertainment, has become a vital part of most people’s childhoods thanks to shows like Sesame Street and its global analogues, The Electric Company, and a host of other programmes that have sprung up on and offline over the years.
In the context of global tourism, edutainment has opened the avenues of learning to travellers of all ages, initially through museums and libraries, later through nature parks, zoos, and facilities offering interactive learning modules.
But in a world where most people tend to live more online than off, an unfortunate side effect of the pandemic era, does edutainment matter in today’s travel industry?
The answer is a resounding yes.
Never underestimate the draw of learning
Consider this: two of the biggest draws in terms of immersive entertainment are museums and marine parks.
As of end-2024, the global museum sector generated US$8 billion in revenues; the global marine park / oceanarium sector, on the other hand, generated over US$36 billion.
By museums, we aren’t just talking about the big players like both locations of The Louvre, the Guggenheim, and the British Museum: the amount stated also covers earnings from specialised museums such as those of companies like Guinness and Destileria Limtuaco which cover the history of their signature spirits, Singapore’s quirky range of galleries specialising in everything from sports to music boxes, to massive historical undertakings like the Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in the northern Philippines which transported and rebuilt to spec heritage houses from around the country.
More than just receptacles for artefacts or artwork, each of these museums plays a key role in both the local and national economies of their respective locations:
- Generation of both revenue and employment Museums call for extensive human resources, particularly as curators and guides. Opening museums leads to the hiring of experts to manage both permanent and seasonal exhibitions, as well as guides ready to impart knowledge of key subjects to the public. Revenue generated from fees most likely goes to funding archaeological digs or curatorial outings that will result in future attractions on top of the usual upkeep of facilities;
- Preservation of local heritage sites Governments and the private sector have both seen the benefit of converting historic areas into museums as opposed to letting them lie fallow or fall into disrepair and ruin. A classic example for this would be the Tainan City Art Museum in the Taiwanese heritage city of Tainan, part of whose collection is housed in the beautifully restored Art Deco structure that served as the headquarters for the city’s police force from 1930 to 2011; and
- Facilities for learning As with libraries, one of the primary reasons behind the establishment of museums is to offer a place of learning for visitors of all ages. Museums likewise generate revenue from classes offered by experts in the fields of art, design, history, and archaeology, engaging museum-goers to do more than just gawk at the displays. Likewise, the addition of hands-on learning modules at science-centric museums enables younger guests to gain better understanding of key concepts outside their textbooks.
Deep diving into knowledge
In a similar vein, zoos and oceanariums offer loads of fun for everyone as these offer a first-hand opportunity to see animals from locations that one cannot easily travel to.
Likewise, as in the case of the recently-reopened Singapore Oceanarium, they give visitors a better idea of the symbiotic relationship between man and the denizens of the sea, offering lessons in sustainability and conservation through various methods throughout the facility from lectures and demonstrations, to interactive digital consoles and thrilling animatronic displays that simulate marine environments.
Sometimes, the edutainment aspect of zoos and other wildlife attractions can be accidental, as in the case of Khao Kheow Zoo’s biggest little attraction: the pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng.
In an April 2025 study done by Dech-siri Nopas, the little hippo’s appearance on various social media platforms drove zoo attendance up by 40 percent throughout her first year of life.
The so-called Moo Deng phenomenon was such that those visiting the zoo got more than they paid for: key lessons regarding the endangered nature of Moo Deng’s species and that of other creatures in the wild.
Fascinating and intriguing, the edutainment appeal of today’s museums, zoos, and oceanariums cannot be understated and their value certainly goes beyond mere revenue and into understanding of the world around us.
