Mike Leven said the aquarium hosts sleepovers to keep families coming back. CLICK HERE or on the photo above for the video interview.

Atlanta is to add two new museums downtown near the Georgia Aquarium and its CEO says that instead of competing for visitors, the city’s multiple attractions will make it a more desirable destination for tourists around the world.

Mike Leven spent 45 years in the hospitality industry, which faces similar challenges to running a tourist attraction.  He served in executive positions at Holiday Inn Worldwide and Days Inn of America before founding US Franchise Systems Inc., which owns Hawthorne Inns and formerly owned Microtel Inns & Suites.

Mr. Leven, who spent three months as interim CEO before being hired full-time Sept. 17, said establishing museums dedicated to the Civil Rights movement and national health would increase the appeal of the city as a whole.

“We think the National Health Museum, the Civil Rights museum, will be tremendous additions to the area,” he said.  “There’s a reason to stay another day.”

Atlanta was selected to host the health museum in June during the 2008 Bio International Convention in San Diego, Calif., but no opening date has been announced.  The Center for Civil and Human Rights will break ground in 2009.  Both attractions will be near the aquarium around Centennial Olympic Park.

Mr. Leven said the city should not have to rely on one institution to attract visitors.

“I don’t think they come solely for the aquarium or the civil rights museum, they come for a combination of things,” he said.  “We will still be the lead in terms of numbers of visitors, but we can help the others and they can help us.  We’re very excited, we hope they get in the ground and up.”

The aquarium exceeded visitor expectations from the time the doors opened to the public Nov. 25, 2005.  Bernie Marcus, a co-founder of Home Depot Inc. who donated $250 million to build the aquarium, predicted 3 million people would visit the facility in its first year.  It reached that number in just 10 months.

The site has experienced a predictable drop-off in visitors as the novelty has worn off, but aquarium officials still expect to see 2.2 million guests this year.

Mr. Leven estimates that only 4-5 percent of these are international visitors, a number he hopes will increase as Atlanta’s global presence continues to rise.

“We should get more than we’re getting,” he said.  “I think as Atlanta gets to be more of an international destination we will get more.  As time goes on the increase of Atlanta as a stopover as opposed to a pass-through for international visitors, we will get more.  Surely they will come here if they get off the plane (in Atlanta).”

The aquarium advertises abroad through the Atlanta Visitors & Conventions Bureau and Discover America, the U.S.’s Washington-based tourism marketing initiative.

The Georgia attraction is also developing a multilingual Web site through What’s Up Interactive, an Atlanta-based multimedia marketing firm.  Mr. Leven said this is a first step to serve what he hopes will be a growing customer base.

“It’s a rather small part of our business,” he said.  “As we grow we will have to be more hotel-like in our international components,” in accommodating visitors’ linguistic needs.

Another challenge, also present in Mr. Leven’s previous career, is attracting repeat business.

To keep people coming back, the aquarium is to host a series of traveling exhibits.   The first such attraction, “Titanic: Aquatic,” features artifacts recovered from the wreck of the famous ocean liner RMS Titanic and opened Aug. 22. 

Mr. Leven said the exhibit will run until April or May of 2009, when a new water-related feature is to be brought in.

The aquarium is also becoming a sought-after event venue for Atlanta’s international groups.

CIFAL Atlanta, a joint initiative by the city of Atlanta and the United Nations, held the Americas Awards, a gathering of North and South American officials to recognize achievement in communities around the Western Hemisphere at the aquarium Sept. 29.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, representing Taiwan in the Southeast, is hosting its National Day celebration at the venue’s Oceans Ballroom for the second year in a row Oct. 9.

Mr. Leven said any group interested in using the aquarium should contact him, as he would take a personal interest in bringing international events to the facility.

A new permanent attraction was added when Nandi, a nine-feet-wide, 456-pound manta ray from South Africa arrived Aug. 25.  The aquarium partnered with uShaka Marine World in Durban, South Africa, to bring the animal here and is the only U.S. facility displaying a manta ray.

The aquarium is constructing a $110 million dolphin exhibit set to open around Thanksgiving, 2010. The bottlenose dolphins are being brought from the Marineland Dolphin Conservation Center in St. Augustine, Fla.

Other featured animals come from all over the world, including whale sharks from the seas around Taiwan, beluga whales from the Arctic Ocean near Russia, and long-legged Japanese spider crabs.

Despite the aquarium’s commercial success, Mr. Leven said he hopes it will be recognized not for its size or visitor numbers, but its respect for marine wildlife and research and conservation efforts.

The aquarium has programs to study many of the endangered species present in its tanks and exhibits, and protect them in their natural habitats.  These include exotic animals like the belugas and whale sharks, but also creatures native to Georgia such as otters and sea turtles.

Biologists, about 50 of which work full-time at the aquarium, have released two sea turtles off the Georgia coast in the past two years.

The aquarium has also drawn consistent support from the Atlanta public, as about 2,100 people from all over the region volunteer their time working at the exhibits, educating the public about the animals within them.