Mystic Aquarium And Seaport Report Strong February Attendance Numbers

Visitors came in droves to the and the in February. Both Mystic tourist attractions reported strong attendance numbers for February and Presidents’ Week, the traditional February vacation for many schools.

This was the first year in February so the organizations were not entirely sure what to expect going into the month.

The Mystic Seaport countered that in part, by building excitement into their Feb. 16, 2012 re-opening.

“We went into the week expecting a good turnout,” said Dan McFadden, director of communications for the Mystic Seaport. “We had strong promotion and put a lot of work into making a great family-friendly event. Although there was some uncertainty around the cutbacks in Connecticut school vacation days, Liberty Days has traditionally drawn a regional visitor to Mystic Seaport and that was the case this year as well. We had many people from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other nearby states.”

According to McFadden visitation to the Mystic Seaport was up more than 150 percent over last year for the nine-day stretch around Presidents’ Day.

“What really pleased us was numbers were strong all week, not just for a couple of days,” McFadden said.

The Mystic Aquarium reported similar strong attendance numbers, saying their attendance in January and February was up double digits over the same two-month period last year.

Erin Merz, manager of media and public relations for the Mystic Aquarium attributed the increased attendance to a focused, consistent, event-driven marketing approach, a mild winter and a slowly improving economy.

Both Merz and McFadden said they are upbeat about the rest of 2012 following the strong opening and Merz added that the Mystic Aquarium is looking forward to additional support for the Greater Mystic area through an .

“As Mystic tourism goes, so goes Connecticut’s tourism prospects,” Merz said.