Next Generation Tourism is marked by two principles. First, tourism and economic development should be mutually supporting. Are the trips, destinations, and behaviors you promote adding to the economic vitality of your state, or are they putting a drain on already strained resources?
Second, tourism must shift from an "Encyclopedia" mindset to an "Experience" mindset. Most tourism offices and publications are cramped with a panacea of random attractions and information. Publications are a catch-all, printed in expensive five or six-color and passed out freely.
This Encyclopedic approach to tourism misses the mark. Today's tourists want an EXPERIENCE. And they're willing to pay for it. State tourism guides are free. Why can Frommers and Go! Guides charge $7.95 - 24.95? Because they position tourism as an Experience.
Next Generation Tourism is already happening in Louisiana, Maryland, California and Virginia, all of which offer richly produced educational scenic driving guides. Heritage trails and native peoples are the focus of guides in Alabama, Arizona and Idaho.
Don't publish a guide book. Promote an experience. It will be fuel for economic development. Speak up about Next Generation Tourism.
Quotable: "Wonderful travel experiences have long been ruined in brochures that are little more than the membership lists of tourist boards and visitors bureaus. But times are changing." – Selby Bateman, Hemispheres, April 2002
Resources for Next Generation Tourism:
"California Driving Tours," a 48-page color booklet jointly published by two state tourism agencies with 24 different driving experience including the two day "Taste of Wine Country" self guided tour.
"Central Alabama's Black Heritage Trail," is a map/brochure that celebrates African-American history through travels from Selma to Montgomery to Tuskegee.
"Maryland Scenic Byways," free 192-page resource that features detailed commentary, maps and photos for more than 30 drives
"The Experience Economy," by Pine and Gilmore
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