Tourists bring money, but also annoyances, to capital
Washingtonians have been blessed of late with fantastic weather to mark the cherry blossom season and baseball’s opening day — two annual rites of spring.
They’ve also been cursed — with yellow school buses crowding the 14th Street Bridge and hordes of fanny-pack-toting tourists.
And lots of visitors who stand on the left side of the escalator.
“This time of year is always a busy time of year,” said Rebecca Pawlowski, spokeswoman for Destination D.C. But this year’s combination of warm weather, a holiday weekend, spring break, and opening day for the Washington Nationals has created the perfect climate for a packed capital over the past two weeks.
“I would say [to tourists] stay home, but we do need the income,” said Stuart Williams, a resident of Northwest who was running on the National Mall.
Williams advocatesa designated tourist month or a tourist green zone to accommodate what he labeled as “drifters” — tourists who walk without paying attention to their surroundings. Williams and his running partner, Northwest D.C. resident Waleola Oyegbola, advised tourists to stay out of the way of runners with a simple warning.
“It’s really hot, so locals are quick to get angry,” Williams said.
Packed Metro cars will do that. The transit agency had its second- and third-highest weekday ridership on Friday and Thursday, respectively — trailing only the Inauguration last year.
Raney Franklin of Prince George’s County called the Metro congestion a “major pain,” especially when traveling home from work. Franklin said tourists are slow and are not attentive to people who need to get off the Metro.
“People are ready to go, and they’ll get run over,” he said, advising tourists to do their homework before using public transportation.
Alexandria resident Kahlil Mariani was even less forgiving. He admitted to pushing people into Metro cars to make room so he wouldn’t get stuck in the door.
“Tourists are clueless and don’t know where to go,” he said outside the McPherson Square Metro stop.
Despite the apparent invasion, the influx does come every spring and should slow by August, said Tom Fontana, a spokesman for the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
“It’s seasonal — you’re not going to get the same number of tourists in February as you are in May or April,” Fontana said.
But there is evidence that more tourists are swarming the city this spring.
For the week ending April 4, 2009, just over 180,000 people visited the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History.
Last week’s total: 326,091.
Philip and Amelia Adkins say Washington is a cheap destination for spring vacation.
“Well one, we’re poor,” said Philip Adkins, a resident of Bethany Beach, Del. “There are free museums and the kids love being here. It’s not too far from home, so it was logical.”
Ed and Shirley Prosser, residents of Elizabethtown, Pa., were actually greeted with a few Bronx cheers on their visit — but took it in stride.
“We got just a few horns, but that happens anywhere,” said Shirley Prosser. “We live in Amish country so we’re used to buggies getting horns. We try to stay away from the tourist roads.”
With the Nuclear Security Summit next week, which will include representatives from 47 countries and major street closures, Washingtonians who are peeved now would do well to take a deep breath — and steel themselves once more.
Hristina Ninova contributed to this report.
