Museums bet on paid virtual tours during pandemic but will they catch on?

A visitor looks at a work from Goya's 'Graphic Imagination' show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art ('The Met') in New York. Photo: AFP

Take a guided tour of Elvis Presley's home from your sofa or marvel at old masters' paintings in The Met without visiting New York: museums, forced to adapt by the pandemic, are now offering paid virtual tours - but how big a source of income will they become?

Interactive walks, video games and podcasts are some of the numerous free innovations museums have launched to try to mitigate the effects of closures and a slump in visitors caused by coronavirus. But more and more institutions are now pushing paid options also.