CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) -
The drought may be hurting the farmers and ranchers, but all this sunshine seems to be helping our tourism business.
That's the word from Rocco Montesano. He's the executive director of the U.S.S. Lexington. Tourism numbers released earlier this year showed that the Lex was lagging behind in attracting tourists, but once summer hit, the boom was on and the number of visitors showing up over the past few months hasn't been seen since before September 11.
"So far, this summer is going exceedingly well," Montesano said. "June was the best June we've had in 10 years, and July was actually the best July we've had in 11. We went over 50,000 people for July, which we had not seen since 2000."
Montesano said the improved Texas economy is also helping to draw tourists to the ship, as well as the new 3D Theatre, complete with new air conditioning, which is a pleasant surprise in the Corpus Christi heat.
