Long Beach tourism faces murky sink-or-swim crossroads.

Long Beach's tourism industry -- battered by Walt Disney Co.'s desertion -- is at a crossroads, several industry observers agreed.

A number of positive developments have been launched to boost the dormant tourism industry in Long Beach. But whether the city can regain its status as a regional tourism draw is unknown, said city and tourism officials.

"The tourism industry in Long Beach is viewed the same way most of Long Beach is perceived: There's tremendous potential but the city's not realizing that potential," said Jeff Kellogg, vice mayor of the city. "A lot of people think that the best amusement in Long Beach is City Hall."

Elected officials were criticized for not being more receptive to Disney, which had considered launching a $3 billion theme park in Long Beach, to be called DisneySea. Not only did Disney drop that idea, but it quit operating Howard Hughes' flying boat Spruce Goose and the historic cruise ship Queen Mary. The Spruce Goose has since been shipped off to a museum in McMinville, Ore.

Kellogg, who appears to still be upset over Disney's choice of Anaheim over Long Beach for the site of its second theme park, said two major projects to boost Long Beach tourism are promising. But both are still somewhat up in the air. They include the success of the Queen Mary, which was reopened in February, and a $550 million plan to create an urban waterfront.

Joseph F. Prevratil, who ran the Queen Mary before Disney took over in 1988, signed a five-year lease with the city late last year to operate the city-owned, money-losing vessel attraction.

With Prevratil back at the helm, the Queen Mary and its surrounding 55 acres were renamed Queen Mary Seaport. Access to the property is now offered free to the public, with reduced parking rates, remodeled hotel rooms at reduced rates until Labor Day, retail shops, fireworks throughout the summer, and a new children's entertainment area with $1 carnival rides, including a Ferris wheel, that is scheduled to be unveiled at the Queen Mary's gala grand reopening June 23.

Since the tours and restaurants began reopening in February, 12,000 to 15,000 guests have been boarding the ship each week, according to the Queen Mary's promotional department.

Prevratil has been lauded by many in the community for breathing life back into the historic landmark, but the summer months are going to be a critical test for the ship, said Kellogg.

Even more critical to the future of tourism in Long Beach is the city's plan to create an urban waterfront to rival Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

The project, known as the Queensway Bay Development Plan, was unveiled to the Long Beach City Council April 30 and is undergoing a three-month public input process prior to the City Council deciding whether or not to go forward with it.

The plan, launched by city and port officials after receiving Disney's negative decision, was drafted by a design team headed by the New York City-based architectural firm of Ehrenkrantz & Eckstut which, ironically, also served as the chief urban design consultant to Disney.

The project calls for an aquarium, extended parks, a five-berth cruise ship terminal, a 500-slip marina and replacement of the pleasure boats in downtown Long Beach with dinner boats, tour boats and historic vessels like the Queen Mary.

Surrounding the new urban harbor would be specialty shops, restaurants and a variety of entertainment facilities.

An estimated 5.5 million annual visitors are expected to flock to the Queensway Bay area, generating $275 million in economic benefits to the city, according to Economics Research Associates, a West L.A.-based firm that helped create the concept.

This project is expected to be an international and national tourist lure, as well as a catalyst for other businesses to come to Long Beach, said Wayne Wilson, vice chairman of Economic Research.

"All the ingredients for a dynamic metropolis are in place in Long Beach," he said. "The city just needs a catalytic stimulus to bring it all together."

As with most projects, financing remains the big question mark, said city officials.

Under the plan, the City of Long Beach would be responsible for making $120 million in major infrastructure improvements, such as constructing the downtown harbor, relocating and expanding park areas, providing parking and making roadway improvements.

Robert Paternoster, director of planning and building for the City of Long Beach, has stated that "the funding of the public infrastructure will be a challenge for the city."

The Port of Long Beach is expected to kick in $130 million for the construction of the proposed cruise terminal and marina. Private-sector investment in building individual attractions is estimated at $300 million.

Even if the City Council approves the project and the plan passes the California Coastal Commission, it will take five years for the likely first attraction -- the aquarium -- to be built, said Wilson.

The whole project isn't expected to be finished until the year 2000, he said.

What's encouraging about the plan is that it's not an all-or-nothing proposition, said Cliff Ratkovich, executive vice president of the Ratkovich Co., which is planning to develop a $1 billion mixed-use project on the site of the former Pike amusement park in downtown Long Beach. He pointed out that the Queensway Bay development can be built in increments.

"It's an exciting time for downtown, and it's a very promising project," he said. "There is a great potential to transform downtown from a water-view city to a waterfront city."

Ratkovich Co.'s plans to develop the Pike property have been on hold because of the economy, but Ratkovich said he is hopeful the plan will go forward if the Queensway plan is adopted. Although the Pike property and Queensway Bay development plans are not formally tied together, Ratkovich said the Pike project would have a far greater chance of success if the Queensway Bay plan proceeded.

In the more immediate future, the expansion of the Long Beach Convention Center is scheduled to be completed in fall 1994. The center's total size is being increased from 198,000 to 334,000 square feet, with total exhibit space being nearly tripled from 88,000 to 224,000 square feet.

A number of new hotels are expected to be built in the next decade to accommodate the increase in convention traffic, said hospitality consultants.

On a related note, the $40 million Pine Avenue Court development in downtown Long Beach, with a 16-screen AMC theater complex and restaurants, is widely considered a success, said Bruce Baltin, director of PKF Consulting in L.A.

"Downtown (Long Beach) is consolidating on a positive standpoint; it's just the world doesn't know about it," he said.

With the city being centrally located between downtown L.A. and Orange County, connected to downtown L.A. by the Blue Line light rail train, and containing 11.5 miles of beaches and waterways, Long Beach has more potential for tourism than any other city in Southern California, said Long Beach City Councilman Ray Grabinski.