Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 20, 1992 TAG: 9201200060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TOURISM DOWN AT COLONIAL SITES
Tourism is down at Virginia's three main Colonial sites, and some officials are blaming the nation's educational system for de-emphasizing 18th century history."We're very concerned about what we believe is a trend," said Jim Rees, director of development at Mount Vernon. "One problem we recognize is that new textbooks, especially at the fourth- and fifth-grade levels, pay less attention to the 18th century than earlier textbooks.
"George Washington is getting much less attention," Rees said. "He used to gain one or two pages in a history book, where he now gets just a few paragraphs."
Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia's Colonial capital; Mount Vernon, George Washington's home; and Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, have suffered a two-year attendance slide, with a collective loss of 370,988 people and millions of dollars in revenue since January 1990.
Many of the 18th century home-museums across Virginia also reported visitation losses over the past several years. Fredericksburg's colonial sites, for the most part, also were down last year.
Some tourism officials say the drop in tourism at colonial sites is just a reflection of the recession, especially in the Northeast, home of many visitors to Virginia.
Randall Foskey, director of admissions marketing at Colonial Williamsburg, said he doesn't connect the loss of 18th century material in history textbooks to lower attendance levels.
"Primarily, it's the economic forces in the Northeast that are hurting us. I'm not about to become an alarmist about people not caring any more about 18th century history."
The downturn in attendance was dramatic at Colonial Williamsburg, where visitation fell 11 percent last year to 940,195 from 1,056,989 in 1990. Attendance in 1990 was off 10.4 percent from the 1989 figure of 1,168,526.
Mount Vernon, where visitation last year fell 4.7 percent, reported attendance of 934,767 compared with 987,977 in 1990. Visitation in 1990 had fallen 7.5 percent from 1,048,284 in 1989.
Monticello's attendance was down 2.2 percent in 1991 and 2.9 percent in 1990, with attendance hovering near 550,000.
But attractions such as theme parks and other places have experienced recent gains in business.
Attendance at Virginia's attractions rose 0.7 percent in 1991 after a 0.4 percent drop in 1990.
The stability of Virginia's tourism appeal this year was a major surprise to many in the industry; attendance set records at Luray Caverns, Kings Dominion and Lexington.
Virginia Beach also had a "refreshing rebound from a disappointing 1990," said Jim Ricketts, director of visitor development.