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'They are not going to stop us'

Tourists have returned in force to Washington DC, lured by world-class museums, national monuments ÿ and a renewed patriotism.

Andrew Buncombe
Saturday 07 September 2002 00:00 BST
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Beneath a sweltering Washington sun, the Fores family from San Francisco is marching down the steps of the city's Lincoln Memorial: another sight ticked off their list of things-to-do, but with plenty more still remaining.

"I didn't come here out a sense of patriotism, but being here feels right," says Heidi Fores, a mother of two, who last came to the nation's capital 13 years ago. "It shows that they are not going to stop us. It would have been awful if we felt we could not come here."

As the huge statue of the implacable Lincoln sits looking down across the Mall, Mrs Fores' sons nod in approval. "It's just like in the pictures," says 15-year-old Dan. His younger brother Scott, 11, is equally entranced by Washington's attractions. A visit to the National Air and Space Museum is vying for first place on his list of favourites, alongside a trip to George Washington's mansion, Mount Vernon.

A year after the attacks of 11 September, when – among other things – American Airlines flight 77 slammed into the side of the Pentagon, killing 189 people, from the perspective of tourism, Washington appears little different. Despite initial concerns that tourists may be driven away for ever out of anxiety over possible further terror strikes, radioactive dirty bombs or anthrax scares, the number of visitors tolerating the increased security measures and coming to experience the city's wealth of attractions – be it the Eastertime cherry blossom or historic Georgetown – is back to pre-attack levels. "September and October are usually our third and fourth busiest months," says one official with the city's Convention and Tourism Corporation. "After the attacks of 11 September our hotel occupancy rate fell to around 25 per cent, at a time when it would have been closer to 90 per cent. There was a large drop in the numbers of people in town."

The recovery took place a lot quicker than had been anticipated, which was a relief to officials as the tourism industry is the second largest employer in the Washington DC area (after the federal government) with 260,000 people employed to serve the 20 million visitors that the city attracts in an average year. Tourism here is worth around $10bn annually. Given the anxiety and fear that genuinely gripped the capital in the wake of the attacks, the turn-around has been remarkable. A recent survey by the Orbitz/Travel Round Table asked leisure travellers whether their activities were back to the same level as "pre 9/11", and almost 70 per cent said they were.

Much of this might be attributed to the increased sense of patriotism that has welled across the United States, leading to a massive upsurge in sales of the Stars-and-Stripes, badges and bumper stickers that now appear everywhere. There is considerable anecdotal evidence that suggests many Americans have made a special effort to come to Washington since the terror attacks: visitors feel that simply being in the nation's capital acts as an unspoken message of unity and defiance. "One of the campaigns we have run in the Washington area used the phrase 'Be Inspired'," says the tourism official. "We played upon that and we heard that a lot of people were moved by it."

Diane and John Grasso, from Oregon, came to the city to see the impressive Lincoln Memorial after visiting their daughter in Norfolk, Virginia, a relatively close three-and-a-half hours away. "Now that I've got here I have been feeling a sense of patriotism," says Mr Grasso. His wife adds: "We are not feeling worried or anxious. Back then, in the aftermath of the attacks, we would have thought twice, but we don't feel we have need to worry now."

Such confidence may be partly a result of some of the new security measures put in place since the attacks. Tourists are more likely to find themselves queuing to have their bags checked before entering museums or galleries, such as the various Smithsonian establishments that line the Mall. There are also more armed guards around the federal buildings, and historic sites such as the Holocaust Museum have further upgraded their already tight security measures. For most visitors it's a small price to pay, and many have said that it helps to reduce any anxiety they may have had about coming here.

In truth, there is very little that a visitor cannot see. Only the White House and the Pentagon have been closed to visitors, though the White House still has a programme for visiting students. The situation at both locations is said to be continually reviewed. Even the FBI headquarters is again admitting visitors. "They had to stop taking visitors, not so much from a security point of view but because they did not have any spare agents to act as guides," says a tourism official.

And it is not as though there aren't plenty of other options to take up any slack created in the tourist's itinerary. This summer the $40m International Spy museum opened in the city centre, receiving rapturous reviews for its collection of spy memorabilia and displays illustrating the city's central role as a backdrop to the murky workings of espionage. The case of Robert Hanssen, who earlier this year was sentenced to life imprisonment after acting as a Russian double agent for more than two decades, is featured in a display that ensures the museum keeps an eye on the future as well as the past.

What is probably harder to estimate is the sense of continuing anxiety felt by Washington's residents. In the 12 months since 11 September, Washingtonians have been inundated with official warnings suggesting that the capital could be the target of further attacks. The most recent alleged that a US citizen, José Padilla, who was arrested getting off a plane in Chicago, had been planning to build and detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb", which he intended to use to terrorise Washington.

That may or may not have been the case: the prospect of Padilla being brought before a court is still some way off. What is clear is that such scares are not bothering the majority of visitors – for Washington's tourists, it's business as usual.

Which is nice when that business is all about having fun.

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