Brochure focuses on Tri-State tourism

September 12, 2008

Steve Eighinger

Tourism-related officials are hoping a new brochure developed by the Tri-State Development

Summit will inject added interest into the fall traveling season.

Severe summer flooding in West-Central Illinois, Northeast Missouri and Southeast Iowa not only devastated many towns and uprooted hundreds of families, but brought tourism to a virtual halt in many areas.

“The new brochure was actually in process before all of the flooding,” said Holly Cain, executive director of the Quincy Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The initial idea behind the publication, according to Cain, was to let tourists know there is more in the Tri-State area for them to do and see than they might have originally thought.

“It was to try and encourage them to see a wider area while they were here,” Cain said. The brochure is entitled “Midwest River Country: Experience the Tri-State of Mind.”

What the brochure is also being used for now in the postflood period is to revive interest in areas such as Mark Twain Lake, which took a severe economical hit due to closures associated with the high waters. The tourism industry was down at least 20 percent for the year, according to estimates from civic officials in the area.

The brochure covers the offerings in 35 counties in Illinois, Missouri and Iowa.

“The brochure is an important tool for communities throughout the region to promote themselves as a travel destination,” said Shelby Crow, a spokesman for the Tri-State Development Summit Tourism

Task Force and the community and economic development educator for the University of Illinois Extension — Adams/Brown Counties. Crow said the publication should also be timely because of the high fuel prices forcing many travelers to stay closer to home.

“The brochure will be a great resource for people from St. Louis to Springfield to Des Moines in planning their getaway plans,” Crow said.

Brochures are available by calling the Tri-State Development Summit at (217) 223-8380 or in each of the communities featured in the publication.