Following consultation with members of the Congress and with interested public agency representatives, it is recommended that legislation be introduced to establish the National Visitor and Student Center. The legislation should provide for the necessary authorization and appropriations for the National Visitor and Student Center based on the concept developed in this report, and for the designation of the operating agency, the appointment of an Advisory Commission, site acquisition, and the design and construction of the Center.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE "VISITOR STUDY: VISITOR ECONOMIC SUPPORT AND FACILITIES FOR DOWNTOWN WASHINGTON, D.C." 1

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(A study prepared for Downtown Progress by Stanford Research Institute)

Coverage of the Study

1. Volume and characteristics of visitors to the Washington Metropolitan Area in 1960.

2. Expenditures of visitors in the Washington Metropolitan Area and in Downtown in 1960.

3. Volume of visitors to the Washington Metropolitan Area in 1970 and in 1980. 4. Expenditures of visitors in the Washington Metropolitan Area and in Downtown in 1980.

5. Discussion of possible facilities for visitors to Washington.

6. Technical appendices: Techniques for estimating and projecting visitor volumes and expenditures.

Selected Findings and Forecasts

Data are presented on number of visitors, purpose of trip, mode of travel, season of trip, length of stay, type of lodging, number in party, place of origin, and expenditures in the Washington area and in Downtown, from which the following significant findings and forecasts have been selected:

1960 findings

Volume.-15.4 million people from outside of the Washington Metropolitan Area visited the Washington area in 1960. Of this total, 5.6 million stayed one night or more and 9.8 million stopped for at least four hours but did not stay overnight.

Purpose. Of the 15.4 million total, 42.9% came for pleasure, 30.0% for business, 20.5% combined business and pleasure, 2.4% for conventions, and 4.2% in groups, mostly students.

Mode. Of the 15.4 million visitors, 75.4% came by automobile, 8.1% by air, 7.2% by rail, 5.1% by scheduled bus, and 4.2% in chartered buses. Of the 5.6 million overnight visitors, 64% came by automobile; of the 9.8 million less-thanone-day visitors, 82% came by automobile.

Season. The seasonal variation showed 29.7% in the spring, 31.4% in the summer, 20.8% in the fall, and 18.1% in the winter.

Origin. As for place of origin, 65.9% came from the area within 250 miles of Washington, 14.4% from the 250 to 499 mile ring, 12.7% from the 500 to 999 mile ring, and 7.0% came from more than 1,000 miles away.

Lodging. Of the 5.6 million overnight visitors, 68% stayed in hotels, motels and rooming houses and 32% stayed with friends and relatives. Of those who stayed in commercial lodging places, 20.2%, or 773,810 visitors, stayed in Downtown. Downtown contained 5,320 visitor rooms in 1960, 23.7% of the total of 22,477 "acceptable" visitor rooms in the Washington Metropolitan Area. 1970 and 1980 visitor volumes

In 1970, 24.0 million visitors will come to the Washington area. Of these, 8.8 million will stay one night or more and 15.2 million will stay for less than 1 day. In 1980, 35.0 million visitors will come to the Washington area. Of these, 13.0 million will stay one night or more and 22.0 million will stay for less than a day.

1 Downtown is bounded generally by Pennsylvania Avenue, 15th Street, M Street, and North Capitol Street, Northwest.

1960 visitor expenditures

The expenditures of visitors in the Washington Metropolitan Area in 1960 was estimated as follows:

121.2 percent of total visitor expenditures in the Washington metropolitan area.

Visitors who stayed at least one night in the area spent an average of $15.13 per person per day.

Visitors who stopped but did not stay overnight spent an average of $4.86 per person per day.

The average expenditure for all visitors was $11.59 per person per day.

1980 visitor expenditures

Visitors to the Washington Metropolitan Area in 1980 will spend $842 million compared with $329 million in 1960, distributed as follows:

If Downtown maintains the same share of total expenditures in 1980 as it had in 1960, visitor expenditures in Downtown will distributed as follows:

This does not include expenditures for transportation, entertainment, and sightseeing.

Facilities for Visitors

A wide variety of facilities for visitors which might be located Downtown were considered, and thirteen facilities were evaluated on the basis of criteria which included: the ability to attract visitors to the area, construction costs, expenditures generated per dollar of cost, dependence on public financing, competition with facilities in other parts of the Metropolitan Area, land requirements, and compatibility with the image of Washington.

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The facilities evaluated were: Visitor Center, Downtown Hotels and Motor Hotels, Student Center, Sports Arena and Exhibit Hall, Theme Park, Bowling Alley, Trade Center, Merchandise Mart, Public Ice Rink, Amusement Park, Convention Hall, Science Center, Cultural Center.

Of these, the three considered most appropriate for early location in Downtown are the Visitor Center, additional Hotels and Motor Hotels, and a Student Center. Visitor Center and Student Center

Using the 1960 visitor volume estimates as a base, it was estimated that the Visitor Center would have served 1.8 million visitors and the Student Center would have served 400,000 visitors of the total of 15.4 million people who visited the Metropolitan Area in 1960. As the volume of visitors to Washington continues to increase, the potential attendance for these proposed facilities will increase. Downtown hotels and motor hotels

The extent of development of new hotels and motor hotels in Downtown will depend upon the interest of developers and the attractiveness of the Downtown environment for these facilities. If Downtown continues to maintain the same share of the Metropolitan Area supply of hotel and motor hotel rooms that it had in 1960, there will be 5,900 rooms for visitors added to the Downtown supply by 1980.

Other facilities

A new large Convention Hall would attract to Washington 20,000 to 30,000 convention visitors a year who do not now come to Washington because of the lack of a large meeting place.

NOTE. A Theme Park would not be a good prospect for location within Downtown because of excessive land requirements, some 75 to 90 acres.

(The other facilities would serve the local population to a large extent and would serve visitors to a lesser extent.)

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