Annapolis area is more than just a day trip for visitors

The average family of four coming to Anne Arundel County stays three nights in a hotel and spends $1,200 on dining and visiting historic sites, suggesting that visitors see the area as more than a day trip, a survey released yesterday said.

Nearly 60 percent of the county's visitors drive in from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, New York and other parts of Maryland, according to the survey commissioned by the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau. Some 75 percent of those surveyed were traveling families.

The survey of 2,252 visitors between October 2004 and June indicated that the tourists tend...