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Tourist attractions evolving for local audience, visitors
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| Thom Benson | |
Six magnificent peaks top the Tennessee Aquarium’s River Journey and Ocean Journey buildings. In River Journey, visitors can explore two living forests under glass and get face to face with freshwater creatures, such as giant catfish, prehistoric sturgeon and American alligators. Ocean Journey takes visitors beneath the waves, where 10-foot sharks, fierce barracuda and graceful stingrays glide through amazing coral formations.
Source: www.tnaqua.org
DELTA QUEEN
The wooden steamboat — the last in the United States to carry passengers — arrived in Chattanooga in February. The city’s newest attraction rests offshore at Coolidge Park and has opened as a floating hotel that will accommodate up to 174 guests nightly.
Source: Newspaper archives and www.deltaqueenhotel.com
RUBY FALLS
Officials at America’s tallest underground waterfall have reduced waste and greenhouse gas emissions and built solar panels to produce renewable energy. Ruby Falls was the first U.S. attraction to complete the Green Globe International environmental certification process earlier this year.
Source: www.rubyfalls.com
Those who run Chattanooga's famous tourist attractions say they're still doing business in these tough economic times -- they're just having to cater more to locals than to out-of-towners.
"Rock City Gardens opened at the height of the Great Depression," said Bill Chapin, Rock City's chief executive officer. "Our business has learned that travel and tourism is resilient. A recession is not the time to cut back on marketing."
Tom Dugan, executive director of the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, oversees Lookout Mountain's Incline Railway. He agrees that advertising doesn't need to be cut. It just needs to be brought closer to home, he says.
"We're expecting to see that a lot of people may not be traveling as much this year, but we still want to do something," Mr. Dugan said. "So we've really targeted the local areas as much as we have the normal areas of Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville and Knoxville."
The Tennessee Aquarium is courting area residents as well, bringing in new exhibits and features to make repeat visits worthwhile, said spokesman Thom Benson.
"We're constantly on the lookout for new stuff," Mr. Benson said, citing the facility's new jellyfish display, cell-phone audio tour and "animal encounters" exhibits.
"We have an exhibits committee, and we survey our visitors and ask them if they have any ideas and if there's anything they would like to see more of," he said. "We try to be as responsive as we can."
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