Ken Ham Pleased With 1.1 Million Ark Encounter Visitors, but Says Attendance Limited by Hotel Space.
Ken Ham in front of the Ark
Encounter theme park that opened in Williamstown, Kentucky on July 7,
2016.
Leading Young Earth Creationist and Answers in Genesis
President Ken Ham says the 510-feet Noah's Ark replica and theme park, Ark
Encounter, would have greater attendance and economic impact on the surrounding
area of Grant County, Kentucky, if more tourist-related businesses were to open
nearby.
In
an op-ed published by Cincinnati.com on
Sunday, the 65-year-old Ham laid out reasons why attendance at the Ark
Encounter, which opened a year ago on Friday, and its economic impact on the
small Kentucky town that is home to the project, would be even greater but for
is being limited by the lack of hotels, restaurants and various other businesses
in the area.
Ham
said Answers in Genesis, the ministry that owns both the Ark Encounter in
Williamstown and the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, "confidently
predicts" that the Ark Encounter will have greater attendance in 2017–2018 than
it did in its inaugural year, which has still far surpassed what many had
expected. However, he explained that prediction is based on the condition that
"we see more entrepreneurs building additional hotels to accommodate our
visitors.
"Interestingly,
a state-commissioned study [from 2014] predicted that if the Ark Encounter were
a themed attraction featuring our creationist beliefs (and it does), it would
draw 325,000 visitors the first year. The Ark reached that figure in less than
three months," Ham wrote. "While tourism-related businesses are thriving in
Grant County, especially in the city of Dry Ridge, more tourist facilities are
desperately needed to handle the Ark crowds. The lack of hotel rooms limits us
to 7,500 to 8,000 guests visiting the Ark in a day." CP.
