CW Ticket Sales, Fundraising Up from 2009

By Amber Lester Kennedy Saturday, February 05, 2011

Colonial Williamsburg saw the first signs of slight recovery last year, with a 4 percent increase in ticket sales.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation saw increased ticket sales and higher fundraising results in 2010, but the increases have not yet returned the foundation to its pre-recession performance. In June 2010, Foundation President Colin Campbell characterized 2009 as a “difficult year,” during which the foundation’s total revenue decreased by $18 million and ticket sales dropped seven percent to 660,000.

In 2010, CW sold 686,000 general admission tickets, for a visitor count of 1.7 million. Support for the Annual Fund increased by 2 percent, to $14.3 million, and the endowment increased in value by $33 million to a market value of $735 million.

The visitor gate count for 2010 was 1.7 million, which didn’t change from 2009. The gate count, which compares total visitation to the open setting of the Historic Area with attendance at gated or turnstiled sites, is based on the length of stay associated with a particular ticket. CW offers one-day, two-day and annual passes, in addition to special experience tickets.

CW saw small increases in visitation at its art museums and on shuttle rides. Art museum visitation increased by 1 percent to 210,000 and the buses provided shuttle service to Jamestown and Yorktown for 95,000 passengers, up from 83,000 in 2009.

CW also expanded its reach beyond the Historic Area, delivering its “Electronic Field Trips” to more than 2,000 registered schools and home-school families for an estimated audience of six million viewers. Visits to its web site also increased by 5 percent, to 25.6 million visits.

“While there are still significant challenges to meet and overcome, I am encouraged by the Foundation’s results in 2010 as they show that Colonial Williamsburg’s imaginative programs and compelling experiences are resonating with visitors and guests,” Campbell said in a press release.

Annual giving to the foundation increased by 2 percent to $14.3 million, contributed by more than 108,000 households from across the country. Virginia households made up 16 percent of the donor base, and more than 2,800 families in the Williamsburg area contributed.

In 2010, the Foundation contributed more than $260,000 to the community. Its employees, volunteers and retirees contributed more than $220,000 to the Greater Williamsburg United Way campaign. The foundation also contributed more than $40,000 in cash, services, products and in-kind contributions to other charitable organizations in the community.

Looking forward, Campbell said CW will continue with its marketing theme, “Be part of the story.” “Through our communications, we invite potential visitors to experience all that we offer: immersing in the 18th-century revolutionary city that is the Historic Area, engaging with our interpreters and trades, exploring our art museums and enjoying all of our hospitality offerings,” he said.

In 2011, the foundation will continue its reconstruction of James Anderson’s Blacksmith Shop and Public Armoury, and introduce a new game for kids ages 8 to 12 called REVQUEST that starts online and ends in the Historic Area.

CW is also hoping to entice guests to the Historic Area with special events, including a Memorial Day concert featuring Lynda Carter (she will replace "30 Rock” star Jane Krakowski, who is expecting a child this spring), jazz legend Chick Corea and big band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. In May, CW’s Woodlands Hotel will serve as the official hotel for participants in the “Run for the Dream” 8K.

While CW saw some improvement in 2010, the Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center had 3.2 percent fewer paying visitors last year. In 2010, 595,023 visitors paid to visit the living history museums, with 428,868 going to the Settlement and 166,155 traveling to the Victory Center. Admissions sales at both museums were just under $5 million, a drop of 3.8 percent from the previous year.

The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, which runs both museums, attributed the decline to the ongoing effects of the recession. “The national economic recession continues to have an impact, though less severely than in 2009,” said Susan Bak, senior director of marketing and retail operations for the foundation. “While monthly visitation patterns remained erratic, since July, we’ve exceeded 2009 levels in several months.”

While Busch Gardens does not report its numbers, a 2009 theme park attendance report from Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM estimated Water Country had 700,000 visitors in 2009, down 2.2 percent from the previous year, and Busch Gardens had 2.9 million visitors in 2009, up 3.7 percent from the previous year. That report uses statistics furnished by operators, historical numbers, financial reports, the investment banking community and local tourism organizations to come up with its estimates.