Attractions in the United States with Annual Attendance of One Million or More Persons

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University of Central Florida Harrison "Buzz" Price Papers Report Attractions in the United States with Annual Attendance of One Million or More Persons 11-18-1963 Economics Research Associates Find

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1 University of Central Florida Harrison "Buzz" Price Papers Report Attractions in the United States with Annual Attendance of One Million or More Persons Economics Research Associates Find similar works at: University of Central Florida Libraries Part of the Tourism and Travel Commons Recommended Citation Economics Research Associates, "Attractions in the United States with Annual Attendance of One Million or More Persons" (1963). Harrison "Buzz" Price Papers This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Digital Collections at STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Harrison "Buzz" Price Papers by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact

2 :;::. ~ I'_ ~ Je t1/h1_6--t: (J. 7(b kk~wltl-u~ (L. ~J/lt< b J1A tl J Vt- tl If ever reissued, correct ~. esent - per WHS. bove- -leave as ls or pr MF. UNITED STATES WITH ANNUAL ATTENDANCE OF ONE MILLION OR MORE PERSONS

r ATTRACTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES WITH ANNUAL ATTENDANCE OF ONE MILLION OR MORE PERSONS The primary purpose of this memorandum report is to concisely outline those attractions in the United States

3 r ATTRACTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES WITH ANNUAL ATTENDANCE OF ONE MILLION OR MORE PERSONS The primary purpose of this memorandum report is to concisely outline those attractions in the United States which achieve a visitation of one million persons per year or more. The report breaks down the major attractions into three separate groups. The first of these, and the group with probable greatest interest to the Disney Organization, consists of outdoor commercial attractions and national parks and monuments. The second group consists of zoos and museums, and the third group consists of fairs and expositions. The number of outdoor commercial attractions and national parks and monuments that achieve an annual visitation of over one million persons per year is indeed small compared to the large number of such areas available to the public. Of the 192 areas under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service,. only 13 per cent, or 25 areas, have an annual visitation in excess of one million persons. Of the numerous The memorandum report was prepared by William H. Stevenson, under the administrative direction of Harrison A. Price, and relies heavily upon data maintained in the files of Economics Research Associates. -1-

4 r : commercial recreation attractions throughout the United States, 10 reach the one million attendance mark. Moreover, combining commercia! recreation attractions and national parks and monuments together, only 14 receive more than 2 I_nillion visits per year, and the number drops to 7 that are visited by more than 5 million persons. Table I lists the major attractions in the United States and ranks them in order of attendance magnitude. Figure 1 shows the location of each of the attractions listed in the table, and in addition shows the location of two recreational drives that are under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. These drives, the Blue Ridge ( Parkway and the Natchez Trace Parkway, have a visitation of 6, 500, 000 and 5, 300, 000 persons, respectively. Although these two scenic drives cannot be considered destination point attractions in the same sense as the parks or related areas, their recreational status cannot be ignored for several reasons: l. It seems reasonable to assume that the bulk of travel on these parkways is recreationally-oriented, since in both instances superior transportation routes going the same direction are readily available. -2-

5 Table I NATIONAL PARKS, MONUMENTS AND COMMERCIAL OUTDOOR ATTRACTIONS (. Rank * Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia Colonial and Yorktown, Virginia Natchez Trace Parkway, Mississippi-Alabama Tennessee ~~~<4 Great Smokey Mountains, Tennessee 5 Disneyland, California 6 Knott's Berry Farm, California 7 Lake Mead, Arizona-Nevada 8 Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D. C. 9 Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 10 Shenandoah, Virginia 11 Olympic, Washington 12 Pacific Ocean Park, California 13 Yellowstone, Wyoming-Montana-Idaho 14 Mount Rainier, Washington 15 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 16 Hot Springs, Arkansas 17 Marineland, California 18 Freedomland, New York 19 Grand Teton, Wyoming 20 Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado 21 Washington Monument, Washington, D. C. 22 Acacia, Maine 23 Forest Lawn, California 24 Yosemite, California 2 5 Grand Canyon, Arizona 26 Silver Springs, Florida 2 7 Six Flags Over Texas 28 Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida 29 Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D. C. 3 0 Platt, Oklahoma 31 Mount Rushmore, South Dakota 32 Chickamauga and Chattanooga, Tennessee 33 Badlands, South Dakota Attendance 6,507, 300 5,792,000 5, 328,000 5,209,000 5,000,000 3,200,000 2,688,700 2,672, 300 2,142,600 2,049,400 2,044,400 2,000,000 1,925,200 1,905,300 1,893, 300 1,874,000 1,800,000 1,800,000 1,799,400 1,773,800 1, 758, 300 1,601,500 1,600,000 1,505,500 1,446,500 1,400,000 1,300,000 1, 300,000 1,251,300 1,218,600 1,209,400 1,068,000 1,044,800 * National Capital Parks System achieves annual attendance of 8, 600, 000, but this is distributed among the following separate attractions, some of which are ranked above: Battleground National Cemetery, House Where Lincoln Died National Memorial, Lincoln Memorial National Memorial, Lincoln Museum National Memorial, Thomas Jefferson National Memorial, Washington Monument National Memorial, and George Washington Memorial Parkway. ** E. R. A. estimates potential visitation to Niagara Falls at 5, 000, 000, no official estimate is available.,- -3-

6 I I ~ I.... (JQ I ~ i'. ~ i' ~ I " Y LLOWSl"oN NA.,.,r.... L PARK -~-- Wvo,.._,Ng EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK MAP OF NATlONAL PARI(S NATIONAL liis1"'0rical PARKS ANNUAL ATTENDANCE ;:; s,ooo,ooo + = :::2,000,000-4,999,000 1,ooo,ooo- 1,999,. ooo ADMINISTERED BY. NATIONAL CAPITAL PARKS, D.C..liAnLEGROUND NATIONAL CEMETERY HOUSE WHERE LINCOLN DIED.NATIONAL MEMORIAL LINCOLN MEMORIAL NATIONAL MEMORIAL LINCOLN MUSEUM NATIONAL MEMORIAL THOMAS JEFFERSON NATIONAL MEMORIAL WASHINGTON MONUMENT NATIONAL.MEMORIAL GEORGE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL I'ARKWAY CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL

7 r. 2. Their development as scenic routes and the nature of the terrain they traverse virtually preclude high-speed through travel. ( One difficulty in assessing their recreational importance and the significance of the attendance figures reported by the National Park Service lies in the lack of knowledge of type of visitation they enjoy. For example, it is unknown whether or not the parkways are used primarily by local residents on Sunday and weekend outings and picnics, or whether the routes themselves are attractions drawing the more distant vacationer. A more serious obstacle to further evaluation is the fact that numerous entrances to the parkway system make it difficult to evaluate visitor concentrations without an analysis of traffic count and composition. The only conclusion that can be reached without more detailed investigation is that the number of visitors is quite impressive, and the bulk of the travel is most likely to be recreation-oriented. Table II shows those zoos, participating and static museums, and art galleries having a visitation in excess of one million persons per year. Such attractions are probably less important in assessing commercial recreational potentials of an area for a number of reasons: 1. Zoos and museums are usually free attractions, or their admission charge is nominal. -5-

8 (. Table II ZOOS AND MUSEUMS Rank 1 New York Zoological Park 2 Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago 3 Metropolitan Museum, N.Y. C. 4 Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C. Arts and Industry 5 San Diego Zoo 6 St. Louis Zoo 7 National Zoological Park, Washington, D. C. 8 Detroit Zoo 9 American Museum of Natural History, N.Y. C. 10 Chicago Zoological Park 11 Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C. Natural History 12 Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Detroit 13 Museum of Natural History, Chicago Attendance 2,500,000 2,500,000 2,490,000 2, 300,000 2,200,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 1,830,000 1,700,000 1,510,000 1,140,000 1,050,000 ( -6-

9 2. Their educational nature results in a relatively heavy usage by school systems as a part of the field trip curriculum. This usually accounts for a significant element of reported attendance. Moreover, educational values prompt visits from local residents for purposes other than pure recreation. 3. Zoo and museum attendance is generally heavily weighted in favor of local populations because of proximity and the low admission schedule or "free gate". This results in a rapid recycling of local populations which a com- \. mercia! venture could hardly expect to achieve. Table III shows attendance data for major fairs and expositions in the United States and Canada. It is the opinion of the E. R. A. staff that this type of attendance is of little significance in evaluating recreational potentials of an area, since it is "event" attendance and would not be indicative of either tourism or area support of a continuously operating attraction. The table is included merely for information purposes. November 15,

10 I \ Table III FAIRS AND EXPOSITIONS Rank 1 Seattle World's Fair 2 Canadian National Exhibition 3 State Fair of Texas 4 Los Angeles County Fair 5 Minnesota State Fair Attendance 9,600,000 3,000,000 2,800,000 1, 150, 000 1, 100,

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