DATE: Friday, July 4, 1997                  TAG: 9707040505

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                      LENGTH:   43 lines

COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG DROPS PROPOSAL LIMITING GUESTS' ACCESS

Colonial Williamsburg no longer is considering limiting access to its open historic areas to paying visitors only, a spokesman said Thursday.

A draft organization plan distributed to top management in May included a suggestion to ask the City Council for permission to try a two-week experiment to limit the access and offer more programs on the street, spokesman Timothy Andrews said.

Colonial Williamsburg has received more than 100 calls and letters about the proposal since it leaked out, Andrews said.

``It was becoming too distracting,'' Andrews said. ``We have all spent most of the past two months talking with the press and the public about this one issue.''

The suggestion was one of dozens aimed at helping the privately funded, nonprofit attraction better compete for tourists and improve finances, Andrews said. Colonial Williamsburg has lost 20 percent of its visitors in the past 10 years, he said.

The draft plan has not been finalized, Andrews said.

``We've never gotten beyond the stage at which we were considering anything other than a two-week experiment,'' Andrews said about the proposal to limit access.

Andrews declined to say whether limiting the access would have been made permanent if the experiment were successful.

``There were a lot of hurdles to overcome,'' he said. ``There was the City Council approval, and would it in fact create a better experience? Would it bring in more visitors? We never had a chance to answer those questions.''

Visitors without tickets are allowed to walk or ride bicycles through the historic area, although they cannot get into most exhibition buildings.

Under the proposal, less than half of the main street, Duke of Gloucester, would have been closed to visitors without tickets, Andrews said. Colonial Williamsburg officials had been considering how restaurants and shops on the street would have been affected, he said.

Andrews estimated that up to 20 percent of visitors to the historic area do not buy tickets. Ticket prices vary, but a one-day pass for an adult costs $25.

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