With summer quickly approaching, officials at the National Aquarium in Baltimore are gearing up for what is expected to be one of the facility?s busiest tourism seasons in recent history thanks to the opening of its new Australian exhibit.
Numbers are already up compared with the same time period last year. Molly Foyle, a spokeswoman for the aquarium, said January saw a 34 percent increase in visitor volume compared with 2005, and weekend visits have increased by more than one-third. During the exhibit?s opening weekend in December, more than 7,200 people toured the aquarium, about 2,000 more than the same weekend the year before.
“Typically, when we open a new exhibit, we see a surge in interest,” said Foyle. “We?re expecting this [trend] to continue this spring and through the summer.”
Foyle said aquarium workers are trying to understand how visitors flow through the building. She said the annual number of visitors to the attraction is expected to increase from the current 1.6 million to more than 2 million.
Local tourism officials say the aquarium expansion bodes well for the entire Baltimore market.
“Any time you add something new to the city ? to the destination ? it sparks new interest,” said Nancy Hinds, a spokeswoman with the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. “When you have something as visible and major as the aquarium expansion, it gives people a reason to come back if they?ve been here and thought they?d seen it all.”
Australian exhibit
» Opened: Dec. 16
» Construction cost: $75 million
» Size: 65,000 square feet
» Features: 1,800 animals, naturalistic rock native to Australia?s Northern Territory, and a massive indoor waterfall
