National Aquarium Reflects on 60 Million Visitors with Gratitude and Optimism

The National Aquarium surpassed a major milestone in November, welcoming its 60 millionth guest since its grand opening in August 1981. Historically welcoming more than 1 million visitors each year, the nonprofit conservation organization is grateful for the trust and support it has received from generations of guests, particularly from its hometown city and state.

Opened originally as an anchor attraction within the newly developed Inner Harbor tourism district, the National Aquarium has evolved from a local visitor attraction to a globally minded conservation organization, welcoming guests while also providing standard-setting welfare to the thousands of animals in its care plus the hundreds it has rescued and released, conducting hands-on conservation projects throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, offering educational programming to approximately 100,000 Maryland students annually, and creating community programs that offer free or reduced-rate Aquarium access to tens of thousands of local guests. The opportunity to engage with the more than one million guests who make a visit to the National Aquarium part of their Baltimore experience each year is critical to achieving the Aquarium's mission to connect people with nature to inspire compassion and care for our ocean planet.

"As Maryland's largest paid cultural attraction, the National Aquarium generates $430 million annually in economic impact statewide," says Aquarium President & CEO John Racanelli. "We are so grateful that Marylanders and visitors from around the world return again and again to explore the wonders of our ocean planet and connect with the natural world exhibited within these walls. It is their visitor dollars that make the Aquarium an economic engine for the city and the state."

The annual funding needed to maintain and operate a 24/7, 365-day a year facility that provides exceptional animal care and welfare, world-class exhibits, hands-on experiences and hopeful stories that educate and inspire every day is substantial, and ticket sales alone cannot sustain it. Unlike many of its peers across the country, the National Aquarium receives no dedicated annual general operating support from the city, state or federal governments and currently depends on the generosity of the Aquarium's private philanthropic community.

"Our guests and donors power everything that goes on here at the Aquarium—from world class exhibits and animal care, to education programs in communities, to habitat protection and restoration in nature," said Chief Mission Officer Jen Driban. "More than 60 million guests can attest to our commitment to their experience during their visit, and to sustaining and improving the world we all share for future generations."

Earlier this year, the National Aquarium celebrated the unveiling of its new Harbor Wetland exhibit, a 10,000 square-foot floating wetland that mimics the Inner Harbor's original Chesapeake Bay tidal marsh habitat that is free and open to the public without Aquarium ticket purchase. The habitat, which has already welcomed more than 50,000 visitors since its debut in August, will undergo natural seasonal changes throughout the year, giving guests a reason to return again and again.