My friend Paul Chaney asked me this, and I thought you might be thinking about it, too. “Hi, Becky. I’m working with a group here in Natchez that is focused on figuring out ways to make it attractive to location-independent workers (that’s one group anyway; also, artisans, makers, the creative community). Also, interested to know…
Are you in a tourism-based town where people stay in town overnight, but head out touring all day long? Ever complain that the tourists stay, but they don’t spend? Here’s a suggestion, inspired by something Peggy Sanders said in her guest post last week, Which town is yours? “Instead of complaining that the hordes are…
“Becky….we are looking at installing a downtown wifi area. What are your thoughts on that? I think it is awesome but I know I am going to get….’oh, sure…now the development corp is going to supply free wifi to people! They can pay for their own!’” Angie Schmidt Benz Moffit, North Dakota Here are four…
Brief History of Highlands, North Carolina, video via YouTube. Hat tip to Susie deVille for the link. Lots of towns have a history video. What I want to see is your “now” video, and then I want to see your “future” video. You know the kind of town history videos I mean. The ones…
Get visitors to your small town to notice all the cool details in your older buildings. Give them a scavenger hunt to follow. This example is from El Reno, Oklahoma, Main Street. They made it a contest with a time limit, but I think it’s a timeless idea, one you can use to get visitors…
Julie from the U.P. of Michigan has a question that I thought you all would also be interested in: We are looking to collect data from travelers to our area this summer season. In particular, we are interested in WHERE our tourists are coming from, so zip code would be really helpful. A lot…
Bike tourists exploring the scenic byways through Baker County, Oregon. Photo (CC) by Baker County Tourism on Flickr. Guest post by Mark Matthews, Chief Executive of Advance Cairns (Australia) ON YOUR BIKE….!!! Mountain biking has experienced rapid growth over the past 20 years as riders seek out new trails and new experiences. And some communities are…
I was excited to see Washingtonian magazine did a August cover story on Great Small Towns. “Two dozen places that will charm you with old-fashioned hospitality and newfangled vigor,” the website summary says. “Visit for a day, a weekend—or for good.” The spread covered 25 different small towns in the greater Washington, D.C., driving area….
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