Destination Towns Clarified

Destination Towns is a relatively new series on Rural Resurrection. These towns are unique and boldly different, towns that stick out in a crowd and draw people in rather than letting them fly through.

There are quite a few detractors of the Destination Towns concept. The criticism stems from the overall belief that tourism, in general, is a bad economic development tool. Detractors note that tourism creates low-paying jobs, increases inequality, strains resources, and creates instability in your economic base.

However, that’s not the focus of the Destination Towns concept. The intention of the concept is to create incremental improvements that help make tourism a viable leg on your economic stool, while helping the other legs of that stool through strategic investments that improve the overall vitality of your community.

Difference Between Destination Towns and Tourist Traps

If you have an interest in the Destination Towns idea with the intention to make your community the next Vail, Colorado, look elsewhere. Focusing a majority of your town’s economic base on tourism is not a good idea. This post isn’t intended to tear down Vail’s choices either. The topography around the ski resort-oriented town is not ideal for industrial development. You also don’t see much corn growing on the side of a mountain.

The intention of Destination Towns is to help diversify the local economy. For towns with one major employer, it helps to hedge against the potential loss of that employer. Getting all your eggs out of one basket helps to protect your community from an economic disaster that has spelled the eventual end of many towns.

There’s also the indirect impacts on the community. As your community works toward becoming a Destination Town, the efforts often create amenities that the residents will enjoy as well. These enhancements are also a selling point that assists other economic development efforts. Lindsborg’s residents enjoy the shopping and the museums, Cottonwood Falls and Arrow Rock offer recreational amenities, and residents in Blackwater get to use the event center in the train depot.

Just Enough of a Difference to Matter

Destination Towns is not an “all your eggs in one basket” economic development concept. The intention of the concept is to make just enough of a difference to matter. Small, incremental enhancements to your community with the Destination Towns mindset won’t make your community a thriving metropolis. But it can make a difference.

As an example, let’s use Christina’s Place in Blackwater, Missouri. Restaurants are a tough business to begin. Financial maven Dave Ramsay often states that owning a restaurant is the “#1 way to go broke“. It is even harder when you start a restaurant in a town of only 162 residents, even if you have a 4.8-star Google rating.

One or two more tables served per day won’t be an economic boon to the restaurant, but it can be the difference between staying open and closing your doors forever. This is important for not just the restaurant owner, but the residents and those who work there. One or two more tables a day can be a difference-maker for an existing waiter or waitress.

Shrewd Investments that Matter Beyond Tourism

The best Destination Towns make investments with the primary intention of creating a better community for their residents. But they keep secondary objectives, including tourism, in mind when implementing their actions.

For instance, the development of a viable trail system can be a significant community amenity that is enjoyed on a regular basis by many of your residents. However, enhancements through linkages to destinations or wayfinding signage can help visitors to the community as well. In doing this, it makes the trail both a community amenity and a tourism asset. It also makes the project more sellable to grants and philanthropic organizations.

Closing

The Destination Towns concept is not about making your community into a tourist trap that is rife with outside investment, traffic, high housing costs, and low-paying service jobs. It’s about subtle, but deliberate investments to help diversify your town’s economy. Keep that mindset at the forefront of your efforts. Your goal should be to enhance your existing community, not transform it into something different. That’s the intent of the Destination Towns concept.