Published: June 01, 2008 12:06 am      

GLYNN: Changes in foreign visitors to Niagara

Stroll through Prospect Park any day of the week — now that the prime tourist season is under way — and you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that there’s indeed a revolution in tourism.

In the travel industry, they’re known as the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and they’re coming by the bus loads — via the charter flights — to Niagara Falls. At present, it appears visitors from India rank No. 1 of the Big Four.

Not that the natural wonder here has just been discovered by the international set. Foreigners have been a major segment of Niagara tourism for more than a century but the UK no longer leads that list, tourism operators generally agree.

Locally, it’s virtually impossible to track the influx.

A large group from India or China may descend on the state park at any time and they often move swiftly — guided by a tour leader — to a specific attraction or vantage point.

Still, after you’re in the park for a half hour and maybe had a chance to observe the exodus from the Prospect Park tower, you’ll be convinced that some of the 47 million Chinese traveling abroad this year have included the Falls on their itinerary. And visitors from Indian and Pakistan are all around as well.

Of course, there was the credible threat that many Americans had been planning to cut back on their vacations this year because of the high gas prices.

That didn’t happen here, at least over the Memorial Day holiday. In fact, attendance in the state park was up more than 8,000 for the comparable weekend a year ago.

If you check out the license plates in Prospect Park and on Goat Island, you would have found visitors from as far away as Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Oregon — a lot more than a tankful away.

That combination — foreigners and Americans determined to go on vacation despite the gas prices — provided for a good start to the season.

Meanwhile, hoteliers and bed-and-breakfast operators will tell you that many foreign visitors — even some U.S. citizens who think the new passport regulations are already in effect — are reluctant to cross the international bridges because of the unwarranted concern they won’t be allowed to return.

It’s an ironic twist from the days when visitors couldn’t wait to clear customs because they were always told the view was better from that side.

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MOVING ON: Melanie Pritchard, whose links to the Channel 7 (WKBW-TV) newsroom started in 1997, signed off as a co-anchor on Friday.

A native of Salamanca, Melanie graduated from Ithaca College in 1989 and began her career with WJJL-AM in Niagara Falls. She also worked at WGR-AM and WBEN-AM. Since 2006, she had co-anchored the 5 p.m. newscast on Ch. 7.

Co-workers note the always pleasant staffer won several awards for team and individual coverage over the years.

She’s assuming a new challenge in the real estate business.

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UGLY SCENE: The closed Wintergarden — obviously facing a wrecking ball — is now just an eyesore a half-block from the nation’s oldest state park.

It’s not just the complex itself — the filthy windows, the graffiti on plywood and the musty atmosphere — but the immediate surroundings also are disgusting.

For the record, the army of volunteers that tries to spruce up the city every spring is certainly not responsible for conditions at the Wintergarden, especially the interior scum and dirt so visible to the passersby. Property owners or anyone with a vested interest in that parcel needs to take responsibility too.

Months ago, it was reported that the demolition was on hold because of a legal issue. That means, of course, the glass-enclosed junkyard will remain for a while.

Contact reporter Don Glynn at 282-2311, ext. 2246.