Jeff Swanagan, executive director, Georgia Aquarium (left) and Spurgeon Richardson, president/ CEO, Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, cut the ribbon on the new ACVB Visitors Center, located at the Georgia Aquarium.

The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, which recently unveiled innovative meeting/event space expansion plans,  celebrated the grand opening of an Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB) Visitors Center.

Meeting and event attendees, as well as other aquarium visitors, can go to the center and access information about Atlanta’s attractions, cultural organizations, dining, shopping and transportation. The center, located between the Tropical Diver and Ocean Voyager exhibits, will assist visitors in making hotel and restaurant reservations, purchasing theater tickets and building an itinerary for their visit. Visitors Centers are located in areas with high traffic in order to conveniently provide information that will enhance the tourist experience. The Georgia Aquarium welcomed more than three million visitors in its first year of operation and recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. 

The Georgia Aquarium is the fourth Visitors Center location operated by ACVB. Visitor Centers can be found at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Underground Atlanta and the Georgia World Congress Center , which boasts three centers during large conventions. In 2005, the Visitor Centers assisted 930,762 people. 

In addition to the Visitor Centers, in 2006 Atlanta began other important tourist/meeting attendee/and business traveler services, including a “City Pass,” discount program and a “Tourist Loop” transit system. In the Fall, The South East Tourism Society named Amanda Dyson-Dana, manager of domestic tourism , AVCB,  Rising Star of the Year.

The Georgia Aquarium not only has an ACVB Visitors Center, and is not only expanding its renowned meeting and event space from 550,000 square feet to 580,000 square feet, and did not only hosting more than 700 events in its first year of operation, it is home to more than 100,000 aquatic animals, one of which is this adorable Beluga Whale