Attractions report holiday success
By Mike Schneider
Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World closed its entrances three times because it was too crowded during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.
Associated Press
Legoland California racked up its strongest attendance during the last two weeks of the year. And the Las Vegas Strip in the days around New Year's Eve was the most packed it has been since Sept. 11.
Fireworks exploded over the already well-lit Las Vegas Boulevard early New Year's Day. The holidays were bright in more ways than one: many tourist attractions reported big crowds during the last two weeks of the year.
Overall, the weeks around the holidays marked a bustling end to what was one of the most miserable years for the nation's tourist attractions. During the last two weeks of the year, many tourist attractions had their best business all year after suffering dramatically following the Sept. 11 attacks.
But questions remain about whether the revival can be sustained during January and February, traditionally slow months between Christmas and spring break.
Many plans for Christmas and New Year's travel were made before Sept. 11, so the success of those two holidays are no indication of how tourist attractions will fare in 2002, said Orlando-based tourism consultant Peter Yesawich.
"I would by no means take admission counts of the past few weeks as to what the future holds," Yesawich said. "The holiday numbers are a bit of an aberration."
In Hawai'i, some attractions said the holiday season was strong, although still off from a year ago.
The Polynesian Cultural Center said it had strong attendance during the holiday season, although sales are still down 8 to 10 percent as a result of Sept. 11. Still, the last three months of 2001 saw a steady narrowing of the gap from the same period in 2000, said Blaine Jacobson, vice president of marketing at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
"Just during the holiday period, my guess is that we're going to be really close to (2000)," Jacobson said.
In Key West, tourists scrambled to find hotel rooms and the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum was back to its usual peak of about 400 visitors a day.
Lodging occupancy averaged 85 to 90 percent throughout the Florida Keys during the past two weeks, said Peter Ilchuk, executive director of the Lodging Association of Key West and the Florida Keys.
In Orlando, which has almost 105,000 rooms, the occupancy rate during the week between Christmas and New Year's averaged about 80 percent or higher, a vast improvement from November's 52 percent.
The Magic Kingdom wasn't the only theme park to close because of over-capacity crowds. Epcot had to shut its gates once, although neither theme park reached the levels of Christmas week attendance of past years.
SeaWorld Orlando and Tampa Bay Busch Gardens have seen their numbers of domestic visitors recover, helped by their Salute to America's Heroes program, which gives free admissions to the nation's law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and the armed forces.
At Legoland in Carlsbad, Calif., near San Diego, attendance boomed during the last two weeks of the year. The pace will slow down, however, until spring break, spokeswoman Courtney Simmons said.
In Las Vegas, hotels were close to full occupancy, although revenues were down because of discounts around New Year's Eve, one of the busiest times of the year. The metro area has more than 125,000 hotel rooms.
"It was a very strong weekend for us," said Erika Brandvik, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "Everyone is raving about how it went."
