DATE: Monday, June 23, 1997                 TAG: 9706200014

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   45 lines

MUSEUM ATTENDANCE WORLD CLASS

The numbers just keep getting better. Earlier this week the Virginia Marine Science Museum announced that not only had it exceeded its own estimates for the numbers of visitors this year, but those numbers had moved the museum into the top echelon of aquariums in the U.S.

In the 12 months since the $31 million museum expansion was unveiled, the Virginia Marine Science Museum has hosted 692,000 visitors. Officials had hoped for 650,000.

Those numbers made the Virginia Beach museum the 10th-most-visited marine science museum/aquarium in the country, just behind the Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation in Brooklyn and ahead of the Seattle Aquarium.

By attaining national stature, the Virginia Marine Science Museum is putting Virginia Beach on the map and drawing attention to more than the city's beaches and Boardwalk.

In fact, the 1996 Boardwalk Survey, conducted by Old Dominion University to gain insight into out-of-town visitors, showed that patrons of the museum stayed an average of 1.3 nights longer in Virginia Beach and spent an average of $383 more than tourists who shunned the museum in favor of other attractions.

That makes sense. Tourists who seek out educational attractions while on holiday could be expected to be better-educated than other visitors.

The better-educated tourist could be expected to earn more money than other visitors and would consequently come to town with more money to spend.

The museum's rosy financial picture reflects its attendance figures. Staff writer Paul Clancy reported this week that the museum continues to break even from an operating standpoint, with revenues of about $5.75 million.

Revenues were never intended to cover the yearly $3.1 million the city pays to retire the debt, but museum officials say the taxes generated by the added tourist dollars are almost equal to the museum's annual debt-service bill.

The 11-year-old museum boasts a fabulous new shark tank, a 3-D IMAX movie theater and an outdoor harbor seal exhibit. In addition, the Virginia Marine Science Museum sponsors whale watching trips and one of the most active programs to rescue stranded marine mammals on the East Coast.

In short, the Virginia Marine Science Museum is a Hampton Roads success story - paying its way, attracting and retaining tourists with broad interests and fat wallets, all while giving the city a national profile.

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