
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 20, 1994                    TAG: 9406200216 
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY                     PAGE: 27    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940620                                 LENGTH:

TOURISM: ECONOMIC LIFEGUARDS COUNT ON BUOYANT NUMBERS

{LEAD} Hampton Roads, Tidewater, the Virginia Waterfront - whatever your handle for it, this is one big tourist hot spot. It's getting hotter.

Three straight years of more bodies on the beach are the best evidence. Virginia Beach's tourism promoters are predicting the visitation tide will rise again in 1994.

{REST} Their best indicator: 68 percent of people questioned in last summer's Boardwalk Survey said they'd hit the Beach again within two years. A year earlier, 58 percent said they'd be back within two.

In Norfolk, city officials are praying the much-ballyhooed, $52 million Nauticus, which opened June 1, draws projected crowds. If not, the city's taxpayers will cover the maritime center's losses.

Colonial Williamsburg, meanwhile, is hoping history will still sell. CW's been beset by a five-year attendance decline. Other Williamsburg area attractions, like Busch Gardens, have fared better.

{KEYWORDS} ALMANAC TOURISM HAMPTON ROADS VIRGINIA BEACH NORFOLK

by CNB