Fewer go to see Statue of Liberty

New York — Since the Sept. 11 attacks, tourism has plummeted sharply at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, across the harbor from the World Trade Center site. Tight security remains in effect at Liberty Island, itself now considered a target for terrorists.

In the past year, about 2.5 million visitors rode the ferries from lower Manhattan to Liberty and Ellis islands, according to the National Park Service, which oversees both sites.

That is half the number who made the trip in 2000, and well below the more than 4 million who had visited in 2001 before Sept. 11, which prompted a 100-day shutdown of the national monuments.

‘Wooden Shoe Walk’ a tourism kicker

Fulton, Ill. — Fulton city officials are hoping to kick-start their tourism industry and the town’s interest in art by offering ornately decorated 4-foot-long shoes throughout town as an attraction.

Fulton resident Heidi Kolk says she got the idea for the “Wooden Shoe Walk” from Chicago’s 1999 “Cows on Parade,” which pumped $200 million into the city’s economy and raised $3.5 million for charity.

“Why not wooden shoes?” Kolk says. “We’re hoping that this will bring tourists to town.”

Officials in the town of 4,000 hope they can get at least 20 people or businesses to invest between $400 to $500 for a 150-pound wooden shoe, which is actually made of molded plastic.

The decorated shoes will be on display from Memorial Day until October when the town celebrates its annual Fulton Fall Festival.

Consumer Reports ends travel letter

Consumer Reports Travel Letter will fold after its January issue, according to Consumers Union, publisher of the monthly newsletter. For 17 years, the newsletter has reported on consumer-oriented travel issues, often with detail not attempted by other publications.

The 116,000-circulation newsletter had lost 17 percent of its subscribers in the past year; Consumers Union blamed the loss on the downturn in travel and the surge of free online travel information.