A drastic cut to admission prices was announced at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum on Thursday, as management brought entrance fees in line with other Canadian museums after a year where attendance dipped below average.

General admission was dropped by more than 33 per cent, from $24 to $15, and other prices were similarly reduced on Thursday as the idyllic museum prepares to celebrate its 100th year of business.

ROM Director and CEO Janet Carding said the museum was aware that difficult economic times was putting pressure on families and hoped the price reduction would make the ROM a destination.

"We were looking to see how we could attract people to come to us for the first time, and people to come back. What we were hearing was the thing we needed to sort out was the price, people were saying it was too expensive," Carding said.

"We decided we would rather have more people come and pay less than less people come and pay more."

While Carding says attendance numbers have stayed fairly constant at about one million visitors per year, last year was below average. The hope is that the lowered prices will boost attendance back above the one million mark.

The ROM was previously the most-expensive museum in the country. The new general admission of $15 now makes the admission fee comparable to Montreal's Pointe-à-Callière Museum ($15) and the Canadian Museum of Nature and Canadian War Museum in Ottawa (each $12).

Senior and student admission have been lowered from $21 to $13.50, and child admission has dropped from $16 to $12. Admission for visitors under the age of three will remain free.

Admission to special exhibits has also lowered, from $31 to $25 ($15 for general admission and $10 feature exhibit charge).

Carding says they were careful not to drop the cost of admission to the point that if affected the quality of its exhibits.

Special shows such as Maya: Secrets of their Ancient World, which opens on Nov. 19, have long considered the ROM a premium destination.

"We didn't want to be in a situation where we dropped the price so low that we could no longer afford to do the exhibitions and the events," Carding said.

The new prices are the first of several changes being made before 2014, when the ROM celebrates its centennial.

Next year the museum will unveil a new website that will allow curators to upload information directly to the public, and will also introduce a smartphone app that will provide an online presence to the exhibits.