Branson booms as Titanic joins lineup

By MARCUS KABEL

updated 3:26 p.m. ET April 6, 2006

BRANSON, Mo. - The bow of the Titanic rears above the spray of waves, the fatal iceberg jammed in its black and riveted iron flank.

The museum built to resemble the ship is part of Branson's efforts to continue growing by widening its appeal beyond the elderly tourists who first helped it boom in the early 1990s, drawn by wholesome country music and crooners.

Branson is adding more upscale shopping, family attractions and pop music fare aimed at newly retiring baby boomers and parents with children. The southwest Missouri town also is seeing a surge of commercial and residential development as it becomes more of a year-round resort.

"It means we are not an attraction-only destination. It's a mix of shopping, commercial and residential development, and it means more year-round employment," said Jerry Adams, Branson's city communications director.

Visitors are expected to number 7.6 million this year, Branson tourism officials say. That would be a 4 percent increase, double the national growth in vacation travel that the Travel Industry Association of America forecasts this year.

Branson is not about to turn its back on its country music roots. But to appeal to aging baby boomers and more families with children, there are more pop music attractions this year, including Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater Complex, opening in April and presenting 1950s and 1960s rock.

John S. Stewart / AP file First Class maid Jaynee poses for a photo in front of the full-scale reproduction of the Titanic's grand staircase in the Titanic Museum on Tuesday, March 7, 2006, in Branson, Mo.

Theme parks are also expanding. Silver Dollar City, a mix of crafts and rides with a late 19th century atmosphere, is spending $8 million to add 10 rides in a new area called the Grand Exposition that echoes the era of world's fairs and expositions.

Also opening this spring is Branson Landing, a shopping mall with a marina and boardwalk on 95 acres on Lake Taneycomo. About 80 percent of an expected 100 stores and restaurants, including Belk Department Store, will be ready for the development's May 26 opening.

Later this summer, a Bass Pro Shops, the Springfield-based hunting, fishing and outdoors retailer, will open at Branson Landing, followed by a Hilton Hotel in October. A convention center and a second Hilton are due to follow in 2007.

Branson Landing is part of a development boom here. The value of new construction was a record $173.5 million last year after $76 million the year before. This past January alone, new construction worth $44.6 million broke a record of $10.3 million from January 1994.

The Titanic attraction, officially named "The World's Largest Titanic Museum Attraction," opened in March.

Museum owner John Joslyn is a former television producer who dove to the wreck in a submersible in 1987 and produced the documentary "Return to the Titanic ... Live."

Joslyn has been a collector of Titanic artifacts and opened a smaller, similar attraction in Orlando, Fla., that he sold to build the Branson museum.

The Titanic building looms above Missouri 76, Branson's Strip. The 100-foot-tall building recreates the bow of the ship, complete with a pool at its base that sprays water as though it were cutting through the ocean.

The entrance is through a mock iceberg tip that juts out of the ship's side. Inside, visitors take a 90-minute walk past more than 400 artifacts and reconstructions of the ship and the life stories of many of its passengers.

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