Washington had been able to lure in an astonishing 20 million U.S. tourists for the very first time ever, in the year 2016. Such an unprecedented growth in the domestic tourist arrivals can be attributed to a sophisticated new museum located on the National Mall, as per the tourism bureau of the city.
It made this announcement on Tuesday.
Destination DC has declared that as many as 20 million travellers visited here, marking an increase of 700,000 over the last record for domestic visitation that had been set in 2015.
However, international visitor totals would be released in the month of August.
In September, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture was opened to the public. Already, it claims to have attracted over 1 million people. The admission is completely free. But then, unlike the other institutions of Smithsonian, the museum adheres to the process of timed entry passes in order to manage the crowds easily.
For the first time, tourists had been drawn to Washington by refurbished as well as new hotels and even the Michelin-starred restaurant, according to Elliott Ferguson, president, Destination DC.
Till date, the highest-profile hotel here was Trump International Hotel that had opened last year on Pennsylvania Avenue and it swiftly attracted a good deal of attention particularly for the supporters of US President Donald Trump. Following the terrorist attacks of 11th September, 2001, the tourism in Washington decreased, and so was the post-recession scenario of 2007 to 2009.
But then, the number of tourists has risen steadily over the last few years.
The domestic tourists had spent a record $7.3 billion in Washington, as per a study that had been conducted for Destination CD. The local tourism industry supports over 74,000 jobs.
