Listing Missouri's top tourist attractions (Kansas City, St. Louis: credit card, house, buying)

[1greatcity]

In searching for a list of Missouri's top attractions by number of annual visitors, I've come up empty-handed. If such as list exists, I haven't been able to locate it.
So I'm creating a list of all Missouri attractions with at least 500,000 annual visitors. This is based on my own research, which I hope is accurate.
One stipulation: Included on the list are single attractions only. This means that areas broad in scope are not considered-- places like the entire town of Branson, The Lake of the Ozarks, the KC Power and Light District, and all of Forest Park in St. Louis.
Here's my list, by number of annual visitors. Feel free to add anything I've missed:

1. Bass Pro Shop, Springfield - 4 million
2. Busch Stadium, St. Louis - over 3 million
3. St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis - 3 million
4. Gateway Arch, St. Louis - 2.5 million
5. America's Center, St. Louis - 2 million
6. Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City - 1.5 million
7. Six Flags St. Louis, St. Louis County - 1.4 million
8. St. Louis Science Center, St. Louis - 1.2 million
9. Kansas City Zoo, Kansas City - 1 million
10. Missouri Botanical Gardens, St. Louis - 800,000
11. (tie) Silver Dollar City, Branson - 750,000
Worlds of Fun, Kansas City - 750,000
13. City Market, Kansas City - 630,000
14. St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis - over 600,000
15. (tie) Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City - 600,000
City Museum, St. Louis - 600,000
Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis - 600,000
18. Grant's Farm, St. Louis County - 550,000

[christina0001]

Wow, I thought the arch would be #1.

[STLCityMike]

Originally Posted by christina0001

Wow, I thought the arch would be #1.

The Arch is a more seasonal attraction, I think. I would imagine the bulk of those visitors are in the summer months. I am curious how they know how many visit Pro bass Shop? Tickets are not required for entry. I have been, but don't recall a counter of any kind?

[Amercity]

I think all of the tourists to bass pro shop in springfield arent tourists but rather customers locally while ALMOST all of the tourists that go to the Arch are not locals. At least thats what ive gathered from going to both and meeting people there

[pams73]

If you actually buy something in Bass Pro Shops, they always ask for your phone number when you check out. They never call (I would know, since I spend an insane amount of money there), but I'm sure they use it to track where people are from that visit the store. So, Bass Pro would know how many people are local vs. how many are tourists (assuming that everyone who comes actually BUYS something, even if it's something small).

[jaxontwinz]

I'm still not sure about Bass Pro. For instance, Mall of America is Upper Midwest's #1. But how many people who go to MOA are Twin Cities shoppers, not just tourists? As much as an attraction as the MOA is for tourists, more people in the Twin Cities shop there than non-area-residents. Same with Bass Pro, what about locals who just go there to buy what they need, they really shouldn't be counted as tourists.

If we are counting residents and local shoppers, then Crown Center should be on the list, at least the mall portion. The aquarium, legoland, and mall are all considered one place.

Anyway, interesting list with a few surprises. Thanks for the research!

[1greatcity]

Originally Posted by pams73

If you actually buy something in Bass Pro Shops, they always ask for your phone number when you check out. They never call (I would know, since I spend an insane amount of money there), but I'm sure they use it to track where people are from that visit the store. So, Bass Pro would know how many people are local vs. how many are tourists (assuming that everyone who comes actually BUYS something, even if it's something small).

Some of these top draws, such as stadiums, are actually visited more by people from the region than by tourists. But since a good number of both tourists and locals comprise the total, these places fall in the "attractions" category.

One type of attraction that I excluded: casinos. It's not that tourists aren't drawn to our casinos, because they are. The only reason I excluded casinos is that I wasn't able to get any kind of accurate annual head count. Evidently, casinos report by gross revenue rather than number of visitors.

[Flyover_Country]

Originally Posted by christina0001

Wow, I thought the arch would be #1.

Originally Posted by pams73

If you actually buy something in Bass Pro Shops, they always ask for your phone number when you check out. They never call (I would know, since I spend an insane amount of money there), but I'm sure they use it to track where people are from that visit the store. So, Bass Pro would know how many people are local vs. how many are tourists (assuming that everyone who comes actually BUYS something, even if it's something small).

Bass Pro Shops being the #1 "tourist" attraction doesn't surprise me one bit, and I bet that most of the visitors are not from out of state. My folks and I lived three hours up I-44 from Springfield but would go down there on a "big run" to Bass Pro Shops every few years. We knew a lot of people that did that, at least until there were more than one Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's location and we had some that were closer.

I always just refuse to give the Bass Pro folks my phone number. There is never an issue. If you pay with a credit card they know who you are and where you are from anyway. A catalog still manages to find its way up to my house in SD despite me buying stuff in MO (and refusing to give them my number) when I am visiting my folks. They have to get this info from the CC as their nearest store to me is hours away in Iowa.

[firebll31]

What about state parks and historic sites? Bennett Spring, Castlewood, Ha Ha Tonka, Mastadon, Roaring River, Sam Baker and St. Joe all hit over 500,000. And several more were very close. These are a single destination. Obviously they are tourism destinations with that kind of attendance, whether it is locals or out-of-town or state visitors.

[pams73]

Originally Posted by Flyover_Country

Bass Pro Shops being the #1 "tourist" attraction doesn't surprise me one bit, and I bet that most of the visitors are not from out of state. My folks and I lived three hours up I-44 from Springfield but would go down there on a "big run" to Bass Pro Shops every few years. We knew a lot of people that did that, at least until there were more than one Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's location and we had some that were closer.

I always just refuse to give the Bass Pro folks my phone number. There is never an issue. If you pay with a credit card they know who you are and where you are from anyway. A catalog still manages to find its way up to my house in SD despite me buying stuff in MO (and refusing to give them my number) when I am visiting my folks. They have to get this info from the CC as their nearest store to me is hours away in Iowa.

I sometimes feel just a little ripped off that I only get the small fliers from Bass Pro and not the big catalogs. My dad, however, always gets the Master Catalog every year.