[Texas Travel Chronicles: Published Articles and Farewell Letter from TMHA President] Page: 1 of 18
[18] p.View a full description of this text.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
FOCUS ON NATURE TOURISM
BY DR. PETER E. TARtLOWTourism & More inc.
IRUPRAt S A'STATE.TREASURE
'RU A ItOUel 'grand' wltWniy 60ortdhiles t6, turn Fal sa lv m
Nihistorical cities I.srnall the Mindae into the unique. children without a
southern community with ' po Neverthelei to be successful it incredible litience
ulatioht J6tist'6ve'10,d00 6uis. must overcorne a number of making a selectio,
Having neither the grandeur o challenges including:
one of the South's great cites n the other ha
..nor a famous battlef1ibd, this Weather dependency. Too few such as My Co
poor rural county symbolizes the rural communities offer Indoor portray the urban l
soul, of the.common,rman. , activities, and when they do, xenophoble place
- '- - these activities are often closed locals seek to take
Here history lives on a human at night and on weekends, outsiders. Ironically
scale, Its church spirals seek Americans believe
heaven, while its people seek to Geographic challenges; Rural chance of being ro
earn a livting by the Sweatk of . tourism communities often lack receiving bodily ha
their brow. "attraction clusters," In almostall cases, few attractions are in
. close proximity of
each other.
Nevertheless, rural
does not necessarily
mean that distances
between attractions
must be great. For
example, In Custer,
SD, .a number of the'
c. mmuhity's attrac-
tions have been
placed in such a way
that there is.only a
short walk separat-
ing them.. This community is
rich in the attrac-. hural tourism
tions o the ordi- ptovdes each of
nary made unique: us with the
a turn of the last chant. to touch
- century house of o, r s t
worship saved by a
devoted gntieman MM#timi;it
'a simple country o hs local corn-
hmeArgted byn r M ltMtf
honor guard b -
eucalyptus trees minin i scial
and turned into a Americanw
genera? s headquar A eia a f
ters and an aban-. lift ian h
doned pre-Civil War lfi4Yasuuiniy
village living in the homogenied
shadow of a major. . world r
power plant.,T his community offers its vIsi-
tors a glimpse into the soul of
America. Like Its geographic
position It reminds the visitor
that as long as we are alive, we
are only midway along our lIfe's
journey and is a tjood example
of the challenges and Opportuni-
ties faced by rural tourism,.flIzed Population dispersal.
Because rural com-
munities have low
population density
they often offer only limited ser-
vice and at very limited times.For example, Boulder City,
that as long as we are alive, we Nevada's merchants open their
are only midway along our lite's stores at the owner's conve-
journey and Is a tjood example. nience. This Irregularity of ser-
of the challenges and opportuni- vice means not only lost current
ties faced by rural tourism, business, but reinforces numer-
ous stereotypes that many urban
Rural tourism provides'each of dwellers have about rural
us with the chance to tpuch ou . America ,
roots. At the same tlm6, It offers + '' :
local communities an opportunity ConfictIng tiessages'as to del-'
to maintaIn a special American f comel The U.S. media offers a
way of life in an ever ircreasing- schlrophrenic message about life
ly homogenized World." ' In the heartland: On one hand,
there is the perception that small
Chafeng acing rural tourism towns are safe and hospitable. I
Rural tourism presents our state have had store owners in MarbleFaiis,jT6ka Iv erne gift for my
children.without asking and show
Incredible ie while I was
.making a seiectlon in their store,
nthe other had, movies
such as MyCousin Vinny
portray the urban landscape as a
xenophobic place where the
locals seek to take advantage of
outsiders. Ironically, while most
Americans believe that their
chance of being robbed or
receiving bocdlly harm is lower in
a rural community, they often
trust rural police officers and
judges less than their urban
counterparts, Speed traps in
rural communities, dishonest
judges and poorly trained police
departments In tourism-oriented
policing cAn destroy a nascent
rural tourism community.
,Marketing challenge. Because
tural communit-les cannot afford
expensive advertising, they must
often depend on word-of-mouth,
guide books or regional advertis-
ing. Numerous states around the
U.S. have full departments for
rural toudsm. For example,
Oregon's rural tourism depart-
ment runs statewide seminars
teaching people how to network,
create regional groups and share
personnel and equipment.
Other communities around the
nation have found ways to free
up staffs through tourism volun-
teer hospitality programs,
Political Fragmentitis. Many small
towns suffer from the disease of
political fragnientitis. PoliticalFragmentitis sets in when local
issues become so important that
the community never able devel-
ops a community-wide visitor-
friendly cooperative effort, Local
football rivalries can also be dis-
astrous for rural communities.
Often high school rivalries are so
great that communities would
rather lose visitors to their
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This text can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View four places within this text that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Text.
Denton Chamber of Commerce. [Texas Travel Chronicles: Published Articles and Farewell Letter from TMHA President], text, 1999/2000; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2190108/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.