National WWII Museum: 2017 had most visitors since it opened

NEW ORLEANS – A museum in New Orleans exhibiting the United States’ role in World War II had record-breaking numbers of visitors last year.

The National WWII Museum says in a statement that its 706,664 visitors in 2017 were the most it’s had in a calendar year since opening in 2000. The museum also broke its single-day attendance record when 6,642 visited Dec. 27. The previous single-day record of 5,553 was set in 2016.

Stephen J. Watson, museum president and CEO, says December had 67,119 visitors and that roughly half came in one week alone.

Over the past year, the museum opened a new exhibit about the millions of workers who supported the U.S. industry during the war and launched PT-305, a restored combat-veteran patrol-torpedo boat that visitors can ride on Lake Pontchartrain.