The latest print edition included lists of casinos and attractions. In spite of some questions about the validity of the data (the lists are based on surveys and heavily depend on what respondents offer) the lists offer many interesting insights.
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| A first class attraction, not on the list at all: The restored Nations first Washington Monument |
Who would guess that the top four attractions ranked by attendance are all entertainment venues, three of them owned by the same entity?
Who would have thought that attendance at the good old Arena outperforms with 800,000 visitors the Ravens stadium (723,800) and Fort McHenry National Park (750,000)?
Or who would have guessed that the once nearly dead Baltimore Zoo has twice as many visitors than the Baltimore Museum of Art? Or that the much maligned Pimlico Race course with 190,576 outperforms the venerable Walter’s Art Museum? Or that the Symphony and the Hippodrome have about the same attendance (slightly under 300,000), each twice what the Walters can muster? That slightly more people go to the Lyric Opera than to Pimlico?
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| Sad record: This suburban casino beats all other area attractions in terms of visitors |
Live Casino at Arundel Mills tops all area attractions with 10 million guests in 2017 but by revenue is outperformed by three other casinos within a three hour drive from Baltimore (in New Jersey and PA and PG County) in spite of the fact that Maryland Live nets almost half a billion dollar. Provided one believes the self-reported numbers of the Cordish Company, it is sad to realize that a casino draws more people annually than even the Lincoln Memorial (7.9 million) or the Air and Space Museum (7.5. million) in our nation's capital.
There are lessons to be learned from comparing attractions and visitor rates. For example, Baltimore as the home of America's first passenger rail, manages to draw only 228,500 people to the B&O museum while Pittsburgh's Duqesne Incline historic cable car draws 624,000 riders per year. Of course, the cable car is a functional connection as part of Pittsburgh's transit system. But that is precisely the point. Why can't Baltimore, for example, make its historic streetcars part of at least one useful connection? Or make a historic B&O train once again go all the way to Ellicott City on weekends? The best urban attractions are those which serve visitors and residents alike!
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| Fort McHenry, undervisited, even after the bicentennial |
Fort McHenry draws 3/4 of a million people annually, not shabby, but couldn't we do better? Over 1.15 million people trek all the way out to Gettysburg by comparison, a town which has much less else to offer than Baltimore and is much harder to get to. 4.3 million visitors see Independence Hall in Philadelphia, couldn't that be a number to aim for? Couldn't a compact be forged between the millions of visitors to Washington's Mall and the our Fort, where the National Anthem found its origin? Via a National Pride visitor pass, for example, which could connect the Lincoln Memorial and the Fort and all transportation in between, including a MARC train that uses historic B&O coaches, shuttles from Penn Station via a modified Purple /Banner Circulator right to the doorsteps of Fort McHenry. Or via Baltimore's fabulous water taxi that waits right a the terminal stop when the Purple Circulator ferries a trainload of people to the Harbor? The pass could include as an option a stay in one of those many new boutique hotels around Mount Vernon. The country's oldest Washington monument isn't even on the list of 50 attractions at all.
The BBJ list also tells us that Light City now outperforms Artscape. However, will Light City be able to pull out 470,000 people next year after many observed this year that attractions were small and far apart? Why can't Baltimore pull off one big corporate funded state of the art building projection that tells Baltimore's story in a similar way as Canada celebrated its anniversary last year with a multimedia projection onto its Ottowa parliament building? Baltimore's world trade center could provide an impressive projection surface that would be visible from all sides?
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| Light projection on the parliament building in Ottowa |
Finally, there is the Lexington Market. It is listed as #5 on the list with 3 million visitors which. Of course, this includes many local shoppers going there every day. Yet, this number is impressive and should tell us not to mess too much with this historic asset when modernizing and upgrading it. Replacing it with an entirely new glass box as currently suggested seems to be a singularly bad idea, especially when thinking about Philly's Reading Market. It drew 6,7 million people in 2016 in spite of being squished underneath the train terminal which is now a convention center. Or of Pikes Place Market in Seattle with its views over Puget Sound. It draws over 10 million visitors, more than Maryland Live casino! Talking about Seattle, even its tired old Space Needle gets a quarter million more visitors than Fort McHenry.
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| The National Aquarium is #7 with 1.31 million annual visitirs |
I know, Baltimore's current discussion is on crime, education and equity and it is amlost taboo to talk about attractions, tourists and the Inner Harbor. For sure, I am not suggesting that our primary tasks should get any less money in favor of visitor attractions. But a good city needs to be able "to walk and chew gum", get the basic services for its citizens right and attract at the same time visitors who leave money behind with which to fund those services. Seen in this light, the BBJ list, for all its flaws, can tell us a lot.
Klaus Philipsen, FAIA
Below the BBJ list for ranks 1-25.
Rank Name/Prior Rank/URL Attendance In 2017
1Live! Casino & Hotel 7002 Arundel Mills CircleHanover, MD 21076443-842-7000marylandlivecasino.com 10.00 million2Power Plant 601 E. Pratt St.Baltimore, MD 21202410-752-5444 7.92 million 3Horseshoe Casino Baltimore 1525 Russell St.Baltimore, MD 21230844-777-7463horseshoebaltimore.com 4.00 million 4Power Plant Live! 34 Market PlaceBaltimore, MD 21202410-347-2754powerplantlive.com 3.54 million 5Lexington Market Inc. 400 W. Lexington St.Baltimore, MD 21201410-685-6169lexingtonmarket.com 3.00 million 6Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Pittsburg cable car 333 W. Camden St.Baltimore, MD 21201888-848-2473orioles.com 2.03 million 7National Aquarium 501 E. Pratt St.Baltimore, MD 21202410-576-3800aqua.org 1.31 million 8Royal Farms Arena 201 W. Baltimore St.Baltimore, MD 21201410-347-2020royalfarmsarena.com 800,000 9Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine 2400 E. Fort Ave.Baltimore, MD 21230410-962-4290nps.gov 750,000 10M&T Bank Stadium 1101 Russell St.Baltimore, MD 212304102308002baltimoreravens.com 723,800 11Maryland State Fair & Agricultural Society Inc. 2200 York RoadTimonium, MD 21093410-252-0200marylandstatefair.com 555,841 12Maryland Zoo in Baltimore 1876 Mansion House DriveBaltimore, MD 21217410-396-7102marylandzoo.org 505,723 13Maryland Science Center 601 Light St.Baltimore, MD 21230410-685-2370marylandsciencecenter.org 500,000 14Light City Inner HarborBaltimore, MD 21202410-752-8632lightcity.org 470,000 15Artscape 10 E. Baltimore St.10th FloorBaltimore, MD 212024107528632artscape.org 350,000 16Baltimore Symphony Orchestra 1212 Cathedral St.Baltimore, MD 21201410-783-8100bsomusic.org 296,000 17Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center 12 N. Eutaw St.Baltimore, MD 21201410-837-7400france-merrickpac.com 280,000 18Port Discovery Children's Museum 35 Market PlaceBaltimore, MD 21202410-727-8120portdiscovery.org 274,000 19Baltimore Museum of Art 10 Art Museum DriveBaltimore, MD 21218443-573-1700artbma.org 246,188 20B&O Railroad Museum 901 W. Pratt St.Baltimore, MD 21223410-752-2490borail.org 228,500 21Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric 140 W. Mount Royal Ave.Baltimore, MD 21201410-900-1151modell-lyric.com 200,000 22Pimlico Race Course Winner and Hayward avenuesBaltimore, MD 21215410-542-9400pimlico.com 190,576 1 23Walters Art Museum 600 N. Charles St.Baltimore, MD 21201410-547-9000thewalters.org 148,198 24American Visionary Art Museum 800 Key HighwayBaltimore, MD 21230410-244-1900avam.org 121,573 25Historic Ships in Baltimore 301 E. Pratt St.Pier 1Baltimore, MD 21202410-539-1797historicships.org 107,878
Seattle's Pike's Market
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