Georgia Aquarium spurs tourist boom

City tourism industries have always relied on large attractions such as the aquarium to bring visitors, said Daniel Connolly, an assistant professor at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business.

"For Atlanta, it is a large city but in some cases has lacked the cultural amenities," Connolly said. "Having this new aquarium, that's been a huge boost to the cultural richness for the community, not only for people coming from out of state but also for locals."

Although the aquarium does not have the exact proportion of in-state and out-of-state visitors, officials estimate that about a third consist of out-of-town conventioneers, another third come from people who come to Atlanta to visit family and the remainder are locals.

"Some of the top aquariums in the United States, none have had two months of over 300,000 attendants," said Jeff Swanagan, the aquarium's executive director. "When we see this kind of data we're getting, we're not even in peak season yet, it tells us we're more than an aquarium."

Good marketing also helped bring in visitors to the Georgia Aquarium, said Debra Kerr Fassnacht, executive vice president of the Shedd Aquarium. But she said only time will tell whether the Georgia Aquarium will be able to maintain those high attendance numbers and stay in the same league as Shedd and the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, which typically draw up to 2 million people each year.

"Georgia has done some things very right. Even before it opened, you couldn't pick up something without reading about it," Fassnacht said. "It's an occurrence that doesn't happen very often."

If You Go:

ATLANTA CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU: (800) 285-2682.

GEORGIA AQUARIUM: 225 Baker St.; (404) 581-4000. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Check Web site for extended hours on selected dates. Adults, $22.75; children, $17 (prices include tax).

HIGH MUSEUM OF ART: 1280 Peachtree St., NE; (404) 733-4444. Tuesday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sundays, noon-5 p.m. Adults, $15; seniors and students, $12; children 6-17, $10. Art from Louvre Museum to be displayed beginning October 2006.

WORLD OF COCA-COLA: 55 Martin Luther King Jr., Drive; (800) 676-2653. Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (until 6 p.m. in June, July and August); Sundays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Adults, $9; children, 4-11, $5. A new World of Coca-Cola exhibit will open in spring of 2007.

INSIDE CNN: Studio tour at CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park Drive and Marietta Street; (877) 426-6868. Tours depart daily, every 10 minutes, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., but they often sell out so reservations are recommended. Adults, $12; children 4-17, $9. Children under 4 are not permitted.

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