Madame Tussauds wax museum will reduce admission prices temporarily after already reducing the cost last April.
The museum, which had lowered prices from $21.50 to $17.14 for an adult ticket six months ago, will now drop to $10 per adult ticket from Election Day to the end of the year to make the attractions more affordable during the economic downturn.
Madame Tussauds, which opened in October 2007, is part a wave of new charged-admission museums in the District that began with the International Spy Museum in 2002 and continued with the Newseum in April and the Crime & Punishment Museum in May.
Gerry Widdicombe, director of economic development at the Downtown Business Improvement District, said so far tourism in Washington is doing better than the national average, and he is interested to see how some of the new museums fare.
But the closing of nearby Ford’s Theatre may limit tourism to Madame Tussauds, he said.
The historic theater, which draws 1 million visitors annually, closed for renovations in June and is slated to reopen in winter.
Madame Tussauds declined to release ticket sales information, but a spokeswoman said Washington’s abundance of free museums influenced officials’ decision to lower prices.
