THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050026
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Virginia Marine Science Museum
Expansion Countdown: 10 days to opening
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN
LENGTH: 87 lines
FROM ITS opening day 10 years ago, the Virginia Marine Science Museum gained a permanent footing in the plans of tour promoters who saw the exhibits on marine life as the ideal way to highlight the city's environmental riches.
The museum proved every bit as entertaining as they had hoped and, based on attendance figures, has become the commonwealth's most popular museum attraction.
With its $35 million expansion nearing completion, the city is out once again to promote its dazzling menagerie to the very people who made the museum on Owls Creek so successful in the first place.
The students, tourists and locals who make up the ``visitor profile'' are likely to hear more about the museum in the coming months as word of the opening spreads through an ongoing print, radio and television campaign.
``Right now, our visitor profile is about 45 percent local and 45 percent overnight, with the overnight people being mostly hotel visitors,'' said Mary Beth Heine, the museum's new director of marketing and sales.
The museum not only attracts people from Hampton Roads but also from the Peninsula, just as the Hampton Air and Space Museum and Colonial Williamsburg draw from the Southside.
The museum sees its greatest potential for growth in tour groups. Now, about 5 percent of visitors are from such groups, and the marketing plans call for a substantial increase in that number.
``We think we can make Virginia Beach an additional stop on an itinerary that includes Washington, D.C., with stops in Williamsburg,'' Heine said. ``We think with the new museum, they'll have a good reason to visit us.''
The museum has already begun devising tour packages with the Virginia Beach Department of Convention and Visitor Development that would give visitors the chance to pay a set price for visits to its exhibits and Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, Nauticus and the Hampton Air and Space Museum.
It's called the ``Family Fun Package'' and has become one of the more popular lures for promoters.
``This is the second year for it, and we've already sold more than 1,200 packages,'' said Ron Kuhlman, the director of marketing and sales at the department.
The price ranges from $599 to $826 for a family of four. It includes choices of three hotels in Hampton, six in Norfolk or five in the Beach, he said. Ads for the package are running in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and the New York metropolitan area.
Spreading the word of the museum also extends to national tour organizations not commonly known to the general public, such as the American Bus Association, which has members who are the owners and operators of motor coach companies. The city also promotes its wares before the National Tour Association, which is made up not only of bus and motor coach owners but also tour operators.
``Those are really important places for us to go,'' said Lisa Betley Reed, the tourism sales manager.
The city has seen a 9 percent increase in motor-coach visits in the past two years. Each coach carries 40 to 48 people, and that cashes out to about $3,500 in spending for the local economy.
``We had 794 tour groups in 1995, and we'd would like to see a 3 to 5 percent increase this year,'' Reed said. ``Of course, we'd take more than that.''
The museum also expects an increase in the number of school-aged visitors on field trips. The museum had already seen a slow rise in the number of youngsters from all over Hampton Roads showing up for whale-watching and dolphin-watching trips.
``About 30 percent of the school groups are from out of the area - that is, beyond Virginia Beach,'' Reed said. ``They come to participate in the educational programs, visit the touch tanks, the stingrays, anything that's `hand's on.' ''
With so much new to see at the museum, it was only natural to expect a higher price for admission. Whether the public will balk at the higher rates remains to be seen.
Admission is now $5.25 for an adult, but on June it will more than double to $10.95 - a fee that includes admission to the 3-D IMAX theater. Tickets for children aged 4-12 are now $4.50. The new price will be $9.95.
Children 3 and under are admitted free, but if they are in the IMAX and take up a seat - for whatever reason - there will be a charge for that seat.
Adult patrons attending the museum will pay $6.95 (children, $5.95), while an IMAX-only admission for adults is $6.95 (children $5.95).
While prices may seem high to some, they are very much in line with most other public attractions, such as movies, which typically run $6 for a show, regardless of quality or length, and other museums.
``We compare favorably to the National Aquarium in Baltimore,'' Heine said, ``where it's $11.50 for adults and $7.50 kids.''
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA MARINE SCIENCE MUSEUM EXPANSION by CNB