Washington wax museum in the works and remembering Planet Hollywood

Wax tom cruise
Originally uploaded by www.nataliebehring.com.

Madame Tussaud's in Shanghai. Caption: Visitors to the newly opened Madame Tussaud's Wax Works look at a figure of Tom Cruise. Photo by Natalie Behring. Then again, it could be fun...

You mean you don't remember Planet Hollywood's DC location? You can probably do a decent DC movie based restaurant--Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Suspect, No Way Out, Washington Confidential, American President, A Man Named Hawk, 24, etc. Although I guess you could argue that such stuff is inauthentic too, as it is fiction, but at least fiction relevant to Washington.

But having a Planet Hollywood, with Hollywood stuff, in a city with a distinct and authentic history doesn't make sense to me. I wonder about a Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. They're smart people, so they'll probably make it somewhat political, but is a lot of money to visit a museum in this city, when the most popular attractions:

1. White House
2. U.S. Capitol
3. "The Monuments" -- Washington, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, WWII Memorial(?)
4. The Smithsonian Museums and the National Mall
5. Arlington Cemetary
6. Alexandria Virginia & Georgetown in Washington (or vice versa)

are free. From the AP story:

One of the world's leading entertainment companies is close to reaching a deal to open a Madame Tussauds wax museum in the nation's capital, officials familiar with the talks confirmed. London-based Tussauds Group has been negotiating with a developer for space in the old Woodward & Lothrop department store building downtown.

"They're very close to a deal," said Steve Moore, president and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C. Economic Development Partnership, a non-profit group that promotes economic development in the city. A company spokeswoman in London acknowledged that Washington is one of the North American sites being considered for the company's international expansion.

The D.C. wax museum site would be located near the National Spy Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum, Ford's Theater and the Verizon Center, which is home to the city's professional basketball and hockey teams. Conservative estimates suggest the wax museum could draw about 35,000 visitors a month, but Moore and others suggest the success of the privately owned Spy Museum indicates attendance could be much higher.

In 2002, the Cleveland-based Malrite Company expected the Spy Museum to attract about 500,000 guests annually, but attendance has consistently topped 700,000. "We have had 2.5 million visitors to date," said Amanda Abrell, a Spy Museum spokeswoman. The museum's adult admission is $15 per person. Tussauds charges between $22 and $31 at its U.S. locations..

Gosh, this sure communicates why it is so essential to have an Arts and Culture Element in the Comprehensive Plan that demands authenticity in supporting the development of new cultural attractions. Only attractions that comport with priorities and extending the competitive advantage of history, culture, and authenticity should get funded.
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This reminds me that I have been meaning to mention a couple articles from last week, including this one, "Smithsonian Attendance Down; Galleries Draw More." From the article:

Overall attendance at the Smithsonian Institution has dropped this year, but its art museums are attracting record crowds. The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum have drawn nearly a quarter-million people to the Reynolds Center since it reopened in early July. That is a dramatic upturn; the museums had never drawn more than 450,000 a year.

The Smithsonian's three most popular museums -- Air and Space, Natural History, and American History -- traditionally bring in the largest crowds, and they still do, but there has been little growth. "Attendance is flat to slightly down," Secretary Lawrence Small said yesterday, during a briefing on the Board of Regents' meeting. The art museums, he said, have had "quite a number of pretty exciting things that have brought people there."

A factor in the overall decline, he said, was "the terrible rains that took place. We were closed down three or four days." Small also cited the shootings and muggings that took place on the Mall in the spring, the height of the tourist season. "That scared away people," he said.

Attendance at all Smithsonian facilities through August was 17.3 million, down almost a million from the same period a year earlier.

On the other hand, the Washington Convention and Tourism Corporation reported that tourism visits and spending were up in 2005 over the previous year, according to an article in the Washington Post, "Tourists Spent $5 Billion in D.C. Last Year," subtitled "Capital Is Attracting Singles and Empty-Nester Travelers, Nonprofit Group Says." From the article:

Tourist spending jumped nearly 5 percent last year, pumping an estimated $5 billion into the District's economy and cementing tourism as one of the key economic drivers in the city, according to a survey released yesterday. By paying taxes in Washington's restaurants, shops and entertainment venues, last year's 15.4 million visitors contributed more than 40 percent of the city's total sales tax revenue and created almost 60,000 full-time jobs, according to numbers from the Washington, DC Convention and Tourism Corp., a private, nonprofit corporation that represents tourist industry businesses

The survey also found District tourists and business travelers to be better-educated, wealthier and more willing to spend money than travelers elsewhere in the country. The renaissance in many urban neighborhoods has allowed the tourism group to focus on more than families and grade-school civics classes.

"Where the new opportunity exists is with empty nesters and young, single travelers who want an urban, edgy, trendy travel experience," said William A. Hanbury, president of the tourism group. "It's not just about the monuments and memorials on the National Mall."

Still, follow the money. Most of the money WCTC spends goes towards attracting tourists to monuments and memorials on the National Mall, and the Washington Convention Center... But they are putting their press releases and data and reports online, which is a step forward.

Also see, "Fairfax, Arlington Lead the Way in Tourism Spending," which says:

A statewide survey finds that most tourism dollars in Virginia are being spent in Fairfax and Arlington counties. The survey by Travel Industry of America shows that the new counties generated about $1.9 billion each last year when it comes to money spent at hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions.

Officials say that a close proximity to Washington is one thing that gives Arlington and Fairfax is a boost in generating revenue. But tourism isn't just big business in northern Virginia, as the industry produced about $16.5 billion last year -- a nearly 10 percent increase over 2004.

You can't rest on your laurels in this business. All of the surrounding jurisdictions are competing for these dollars.

But note: I could be wrong on this one. This could work. Even without lots of DC oriented stuff, because many of the people visiting DC don't likely visit other places where Madame Tussauds wax museums are present. OTOH, except for a small amount of staff, and rent, most of the funding stream from this attraction would be repatriated to the company headquarters, not to be recycled (the multiplier effect) in DC.

Index Keywords: cultural-heritage-tourism; museums