2008 Woodie Awards
Tourism down as holiday approaches
Miriam Clithero
Issue date: 10/27/05 Section: Lifestyle
- Page 1 of 3 next >
This October, Derby Street in Salem is not bustling with the usual number of visitors hurrying to the different museums and Halloween attractions offered by the city.
Standing with fellow employees, escaping from the rain under a white ticket booth vacant of customers, Donna Story, assistant director of the Salem Wax Museum's Haunted Neighborhood, said she thought tourism had decreased by 40 percent since 2001.
Carol Thistle, executive director of Destination Salem at the Office of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, said calculations from the Visitor's Center showed that the number of people visiting had dropped by five percent over the last year. This figure excludes October of this and last year, however, which is Salem's busiest month for tourism, she said.
With its garish history dating back to 1692, when the Salem Witch Trials began, the city has depended on its sordid past to draw in tourists.
While there are numerous contributing factors as to why there is a decrease in visitors this year, one major reason is the cuts in spending for tourism promotion since 2002, said Shane Bell, manager of Salem's first witch shop, Crow Haven Corner.
According to the City of Salem's Fiscal Years 2002-2004 Annual Budgets, the Market and Tourist Department was cut by 73 percent. The funds annually go to Destination Salem, the nonprofit marketing arm designed to promote the city, said Salem Mayor Stanley J. Usovicz, Jr.
Thistle said the city and local businesses, like hotels, restaurants and shops, pay a membership fee to Destination Salem that goes to the upkeep of two tourist Web sites and two visitor guides. Requests for visitor guides that are shipped throughout the US have almost doubled in the last year, she said.
Usovicz said tourism is not the only aspect of the budget that has been cut. State aid has decreased and healthcare costs have resulted in "budget busting," he said. Salem has laid off teachers, municipal workers and early retirement recipients in the police and fire departments, according to the mayor.
Standing with fellow employees, escaping from the rain under a white ticket booth vacant of customers, Donna Story, assistant director of the Salem Wax Museum's Haunted Neighborhood, said she thought tourism had decreased by 40 percent since 2001.
Carol Thistle, executive director of Destination Salem at the Office of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, said calculations from the Visitor's Center showed that the number of people visiting had dropped by five percent over the last year. This figure excludes October of this and last year, however, which is Salem's busiest month for tourism, she said.
With its garish history dating back to 1692, when the Salem Witch Trials began, the city has depended on its sordid past to draw in tourists.
While there are numerous contributing factors as to why there is a decrease in visitors this year, one major reason is the cuts in spending for tourism promotion since 2002, said Shane Bell, manager of Salem's first witch shop, Crow Haven Corner.
According to the City of Salem's Fiscal Years 2002-2004 Annual Budgets, the Market and Tourist Department was cut by 73 percent. The funds annually go to Destination Salem, the nonprofit marketing arm designed to promote the city, said Salem Mayor Stanley J. Usovicz, Jr.
Thistle said the city and local businesses, like hotels, restaurants and shops, pay a membership fee to Destination Salem that goes to the upkeep of two tourist Web sites and two visitor guides. Requests for visitor guides that are shipped throughout the US have almost doubled in the last year, she said.
Usovicz said tourism is not the only aspect of the budget that has been cut. State aid has decreased and healthcare costs have resulted in "budget busting," he said. Salem has laid off teachers, municipal workers and early retirement recipients in the police and fire departments, according to the mayor.