Boston Tries to Keep Visitors Coming to the City

May 12, 2013

Runners continue towards the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. REUTERS/Dan Lampariello

Welcome to This Is America from VOA Learning English. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I’m Mario Ritter. Today we talk about the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has been in the news recently because of the two bombs that exploded during the Boston Marathon on April 15. Boston is also a popular place for visitors from the United States and around the world—partly because the city played an important role in American history.

Three people died and more than 260 people were hurt at the Boston Marathon bombings. Some of the most seriously injured victims have already said they want to run again. Boston also wants to make sure that travelers keep coming to the city.

Jason Clampet is one of the founders of a company called Skift. Skift studies the travel industry. Mr. Clampet says some travel agencies had to cancel trips to Boston after the bombings. He says no one knew what was happening between the Monday when the bombs exploded and the Friday when the second suspect was captured alive.

“So I think everybody who was planning a trip hit the pause button.”

Mr. Clampet says that in recent weeks, travel to the city has returned to normal. He says one reason is because transportation networks and hotels were not seriously affected. The Boston bombings did not have as big an effect as the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City or Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in New Orleans.