February 27, 2008
Statue of Liberty tourism remains below pre-9/11 peak
Although tourism numbers again hit record levels in 2007 in New York City, visits to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island still remain significantly below the levels reached before the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
In 2007, 3.38 million people visited the Statue of Liberty National Monument, compared with 5.51 million in 2000, according to NPS statistics.
Meanwhile, NYC tourism as a whole continues to boom.
A report released last month by the NYC tourism office estimated a record 46 million people visited the city in 2007, compared with the previous record, in 2006, of 43.8 million visitors. They spent about $28 billion here.
About 8.5 million of those visitors were from other countries, (a 20 percent increase over 2006,) with Britain, Canada, and Germany sending the most.
Yet the numbers at the National Parks Service, while reviving, are still below earlier peaks.
There were 275 million visits nationwide to NPS sites in 2007, the parks service announced Tuesday. The all-time-high for NPS was 287 million visitors in 1999.
For a closer look at the Statue of Liberty numbers, 3.26 million visited in 2006; 4.24 million in 2005; 3.62 million in 2004, (when the Statue's museum reopened for the first time since 2001;) 3.23 million in 2003 (when only the grounds of Liberty Island were open;) 3.4 million in 2002, (when only the grounds of Liberty Island were open;) 4.32 million in 2001 (when the monument was closed starting Sept. 11, 2001;) 5.51 million in 2000; and 5.37 million in 1999.
Those numbers include the Ellis Island immigration museum, which is considered part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. For 2007, Liberty Island recorded a total of 2.6 million visitors while Ellis Island saw 1.7 million. Another way to look at the numbers, 2.68 million came by ferry from Manhattan, while only 696,000 took the ferry from New Jersey.
The only way to get to the islands is by the lone ferry company licensed by the National Parks Service. For half a century, that was Circle Line. But as of January 1, 2008, it's Statue Cruises (a new subsidiary of Hornblower Yachts.) Statue Cruises has implemented a timed-ticketing system to shorten the lines. (NewYorkology has twice tested out the new, not entirely kink-free ferry service - on January 1 and in early February.)
Attendance numbers for some of the other NYC monuments and parks operated by the National Parks Service:
Federal Hall on Wall Street
2007 - 127,432
2000 - 241,897
Grant's Tomb on Riverside Drive
2007 - 84,171
2000 - 111,299
Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace on East 20th Street
2007 - 13,098
2000 - 19,837
Jamaica Bay recreation area
2007 - 4.04 milion
2000 - 3.21 million
Photo credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier: Inside Ellis Island's restoration; next up: laundry
Broadway sets record for '07; average ticket hits $76
The Brits aren't coming due to security, delays
Crowded? 44 million tourists visited NYC in 2006
NewYorkology Basics: Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
February 27, 2008 09:20 AM in Cheap Stuff, Downtown, History, Museums, Out of Manhattan, Sightsology, Tours
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