Or Is This Business As Usual?

As construction workers and exhibition managers put the finishing touches on the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport (VA), local tourism officials appear to have been caught by surprise. They’re scrambling now to integrate the museum with other tourism attractions in historic Loudon County (VA). 

Leesburg Today reports, with the grand opening of the museum just over two weeks away, there appears to be no marketing strategy involving local jurisdictions and area tourism agencies. It’s not the museum’s grand opening being questioned – rather, it’s a question of whether it’s been fully integrated into one of the nation’s most popular tourist regions.

The prime suspect here appears to be Loudon County (VA). The county itself has reportedly done nothing to promote an interlocking tourism strategy with the museum, beyond reaching an agreement with national bus tour operators. That deal resolves pricing issues, but does not address getting museum visitors to other sites around the rest of the county. Isolation in these terms could be bad for the museum – and for the rest of the county.

Part of the problem appears to be Smithsonian policy. Normally, you’d go to a museum and see a rack of brochures for nearby tourist sites. But the Smithsonian prohibits that practice as a matter of policy. And yet, Udvar-Hazy officials accepted a $200,000 donation from Loudon County as “partial funding in the first year for visitor services operations within the facility for fixtures, displays, visitor service enhancements and brochure displays. Work with the LCVA to determine an appropriate location for Loudoun brochures.”

Instead of funding the publication of brochures and a display area inside the Smithsonian, the money is being used to fund an information kiosk, where volunteers will be able to help visitors find information about nearby attractions, in part, by going online.

Apparently, however, nobody told the Loudon County Convention and Visitor Bureau. When the museum opens on December 15th, there won’t be any brochures and, unless somebody acts fast, there won’t be any volunteers to man the kiosk. “We didn’t even know until last week that they would accept the kiosk idea,” says Bureau President Cheryl Kilday.

The museum has asked Loudon County for another $200,000 in FY 2004 to fund the kiosk. Loudon responded with a grant of $35,000.

As county and tourism leaders scramble to address the apparent lack of integration, the simplest solution may come from the museum itself. Officials say the Smithsonian will run a free shuttle service between downtown Washington (DC) and the facility at Dulles International. “We hope people will realize they can do other things ... This can be a hub to bring people out here,” said Donald Lopez, Deputy Director of the National Air and Space Museum.

FMI: www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy/