The object of the thesis was to construct a profile or profiles of the typical customers of the Oulu Museum of Art. The thesis was commissioned by the Museum and Science Centre Luuppi, located in Oulu, Finland. This thesis contains one of the first public art museum customer profiles made in Finland. Traditionally, museums have enjoyed one of the world’s most satisfied and loyal customer bases. While the museums have changed with the passing of time, their customer base has stayed relatively the same at least since the 80s. However, the expectations set for a museum experience have shifted towards modern-day consumption. Art is no longer a hobby for only the elite and people from all walks of life are invited to art museums. Modern technology is making its way into museums, offering an opportunity to better serve all the different customers. However, art museums still carry an air of a traditional and old-fashioned institution, which might play a part in making both customers and employees wary of modern digital solutions.

In this thesis, the customers of the Oulu Museum of Art are profiled through the means of a qualitative content analysis and a customer survey. The content analysis was conducted from past ticket sales while the customer survey was implemented as an online survey, spread primarily through social media. The theoretical background of the research was gathered from modern-day sources, from both general cultural tourism research and studies meant to profile customers of other art museums. While cultural tourism has grown during recent years, this growth was not visible in the amount of art museum research available.

As a result of the research, two customer profiles for the Oulu Museum of Art were made. While the demographics of the two sample customers are the same, they lead different lives and face different obstacles before and during art museum visits. They however share the same values. The service development suggestions are made based on the discovered customer profiles and the issues that arose during the research, especially the existing obstacles. The customers are still reserved towards digital services but they are not completely out of the question either. Most of the developments desired by the customers themselves were rather basic, such as extended opening times or new exhibitions.