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A rendering of the Air Force Memorial which opens this year, at night.
Alexandria (Map, News) - New eye-catching memorials, multimillion-dollar expansions and high-profile events are expected to help draw millions of visitors and billions of dollars to Northern Virginia over the next year, industry officials said Tuesday at the region’s annual tourism summit.
Tourism leaders from Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties and Alexandria met at Mount Vernon for the third annual Northern Virginia Visitors Consortium tourism summit — an opportunity for officials to discuss regional efforts to attract tourists.
“Our goal is to get people to stay longer and spend more money,” said Rick Siger, Virginia’s deputy secretary of commerce and trade. Northern Virginia is “clearly a powerhouse in terms of revenues for the state,” he said.
In fact, the region accounted for nearly 40 percent, or $5.8 billion, of the revenue generated by tourism in the entire state of Virginia in 2004, according to statistics compiled by the Travel Industry Association of America. Visitor spending grew by more than 8 percent between 2003 and 2004, and the industry accounts for nearly 77,000 jobs in Northern Virginia.
Because several new attractions are opening in Northern Virginia this year, those numbers are expected to grow.
Mount Vernon in Alexandria will open its orientation center and education center on Oct. 27. The $95 million expansion includes 23 galleries and theater space with interactive exhibits and never-before-displayed artifacts.
The Air Force Memorial will open on Oct. 14 in Arlington and the National Museum of the Marine Corps and Heritage Center will open in Prince William County in November. In addition, Alexandria will hold events for the statewide Jamestown 2007 celebration May 27 through June 3.
“Tourists don’t know or care what jurisdiction they’re in,” said Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., who spoke at the summit. “There’s no ceiling on what is going to be accomplished in generating revenue for the region and the state.”
Tourist spending by county in Northern Virginia, 2004
» Alexandria: $517,065,297
» Arlington: $1,959,810,556
» Fairfax: $1,991,816,170
» Loudoun: $1,060,226,119
» Prince William: $331,208,748
» Total: $5,860,126,890
kwilmeth@dcexaminer.com
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4:19 PM MST on Wed., May. 2, 2007 re: "State scoring big dollars on tourism"
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10:05 AM MST on Thu., Apr. 19, 2007 re: "Study: City needs more tourist attractions"
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mike johnson said:
As a native born Baltimorean, I have always had an inferiority complex next to Philly and Washington DC. There have been places that are must-sees for people coming into town, like the architecture around Mount Vernon, the restaurants of Little Italy and Inner Harbor East, the wineries in Carroll and Harford County (in season), and the world class gems of the Walters and BMA. Historically, Philadelphia shined in the colonial period and has been lovingly restored. Washington is the home of a thousand federally funded tourist attractions. Baltimore became a major city in that period of time after the powdered wig era and before Washington became capital of the world. Americans have lost track of how much of the US of today would not exist without the sailing ships, steam locomotives, warehouseman and factory workers that met here. Show me the last time one of the conventioneers was murdered in Baltimore. Baltimore is a city, not Disneyland, but I like it.
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