Small towns are full of characters. Sometimes, we feel a bit embarrassed by that, but what if we started to value our town characters? It might be a savvy tourism opportunity. Here’s how one town did it, catching the attention of a travel writer. A few town characters from Waynoka, Oklahoma: the Dog Creek Gunfighters….
Risk is part of everything we do. Any business could be sued by anyone. We can’t change that, but we can manage the risks and reduce our potential liabilities. A shooting station at Claythorne Lodge:a risk that must be managed. Agritourism businesses have some extra risks to manage: being around animals and horseback riding, shooting,…
At the Tri-State Agritourism Conference, three local convention and visitor bureau (CVB) pros talked about what they can do with local agritourism businesses. CVBs can help agritourism operatorsput together group tours. Karen Hood represented Pulaski County TBVC (Tourism Bureau and Visitors Center) from Missouri, Amanda Davis represented Miami CVB from Oklahoma and Craig Hull represented…
Agritourism is the crossroads where agriculture and tourism meet. Current travel trends support agritourism: more short getaway trips, more travel by car, more last minute trips, and more family time. The general population is three to five generations removed from the family farm. Many people go to agritourism businesses in order to buy direct from…
[Longtime reader Johnita Crawford sent me this terrific report from the WeKan conference, all about rural tourism in Kansas. Many great ideas in here, ripe for the picking! –Becky ] By Johnita Crawford Wow! I’m still flying from the great day I spent at the WeKan conference I attended in Salina! Johnita Crawford and Mary…
Nebraska Tourism uses the back of their envelopes to list key attractions. I got this catalog-size envelope from Nebraska Tourism. As you can see, the back is covered with driving tours, ideas for visits and popular attractions. Excellent use of an otherwise wasted space. Let’s extend this idea for any destination. Add a web address…
If you do much work on local tourism, you know that you get asked for basic information and photos over and over. If you’re like most of us, you have to search through folder after folder of photos, or dig for descriptions you wrote up last year. Time to create your Secret Weapon for dealing…
[Our friend Deb Brown wrote up some terrific notes on attracting group tours to small towns, and she was kind enough to share them with us. -Becky] By Deb Brown Last week I went to the Central Iowa Tourism Quarterly Meeting. The first part of the day was Creating Pop Off the Page Itineraries. There…
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