The USS Midway Museum in San Diego has achieved a major milestone: Annual attendance has already reached the one million mark.
On May 31, the historic naval ship museum became one of the first naval ship museums of its kind in the U.S. to host more one million visitors in a year.
“This marks a historic milestone in the nation’s fleet of historic naval ships,” noted Midway president & CEO Mac McLaughlin. “The extraordinary support shown by San Diegans has made this possible. Time and again we’ve seen San Diego take great pride in its military heritage as the birthplace of naval aviation.”
The attendance milestone comes just in time for the USS Midway Museum’s eighth anniversary. The ship first opened its doors as a museum on June 7, 2004.
Since opening, annual attendance has never dropped below 800,000 visitors, according to information from the Midway media offices.
This year, Midway attendance is 14 percent higher than last year’s pace.
Approximately 12 percent of the museum’s visitors are from abroad. Attendance for museum visitors under the age of 17 has increased steadily over the years to nearly 25 percent.
In addition to approximately 40,000 students who are hosted annually on school field trips, the museum also hosts more than 250 private events each year.
More than 300 active-duty military events are held aboard the Midway Museum annually too, including re-enlistments, retirements, changes of command, memorials, and the U.S. Navy’s annual Battle of Midway Commemoration.
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