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Mark Long of Lubbock, TX decided he and his daughter should spend the day in the Scenic City after arriving in Nashville this week to visit some relatives. "We'd been down to Nashville a few times before and weren't able to make it out here and I like to go to the Aquariums and see the sights and that was one of my destinations to the aquarium this time," says Long.
But this year, fewer people like Mark made the trip to town. The Georgia Aquarium shattered attendance projections in its first year, taking with it customers that would have come to Chattanooga.
"Of course our business goes down with that, we directly reflect what the Aquarium [1] does as far as our business goes," says Chris Eidson, GM of Chattanooga Burger Bar. Last month, the Tortilla Factory [2] reinvented itself as the Chattanooga Burger Bar in an effort to attract more local dollars. Eidson says "its a lot easier to go with a local theme, we lowered our prices, beer and food, and didn't want to depend so much on tourism like we did with the Tortilla Factory [3]."
Several other business within walking distance of the Aquarium [4] also report taking a hit this year. But the Mellow Mushroom's [5] General Manager says events, like "Between the Bridges" and the "Head of the Hooch" rowing competition, helped offset the Aquarium [6]'s attendance impact. "We haven't changed our strategy based on the numbers, we don't feel like we need to right now," says David Graves.
The folks at the Tennessee Aquarium [7] expect attendance to improve in 2007, as the newness of Georgia's offering wears off. They believe that's already happening, as visitors from the Atlanta area actually improved ten-percent last month. They plan some new events for 2007 as well, but they're not ready to unveil anything just yet. TN Aquarium [8] Marketing Director Cindy Todd adds high gas prices this summer played a part in this year's attendance.
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