Last week I commented on walking tours in Huntington W.Va. and that article generated some comments.

First thanks for your interest. Second I’d like to address some of your questions and concerns. I am also going to put a local Ironton flavor in my answers.

To those folks that thought these activities were a waste of time and resources I have one and only one answer: MONEY!

By bringing people into town and putting them on our streets and in our retail establishments we can generate revenue. Much of this money is spent on food, beverages, gas and other items.

These expenditures are turned over into wages, business earning and taxes paid.

Just imagine a van load of people off loading in front of a downtown Ironton restaurant and going inside to await the arrival of more friends. A couple rounds of coffee and lunch platters have added to that establishment’s daily take. These additional meals have increased the places’ daily revenues.

If this trend continues for a couple of weeks, then the astute owner/manager recognizes it and increases staff accordingly. Again increased revenue, wages paid and taxes collected.

It’s a win-win situation for all parties! Just imagine if these tourists arrive on a weekday and a few of them venture into Allyn’s, Unger’s or Tim’s News to make some purchases?

It is a new source of incremental income for these local businesses. I am sure that these and other proprietors will be clamoring for increased daily foot traffic from inbound travelers.

It is getting repetitive but the outcome again is more revenue generated.

Taking this scenario to the next level includes some major marketing efforts and some imagination but let’s dream big. Imagine a motor coach of 40 garden enthusiasts’ tourists arriving in Ironton last Sunday July 10.

The Ironton in Bloom’s backyard garden tour is the tourism magnet, the feature that has drawn them to town.

The tour participants have brunch on the river front patio at the Fuzzy Duck then embark on a guided walking tour of historic Ironton. Yes there’s a tour with 22 stops.

After the tour it is a quick lunch before enjoying the Ironton in Bloom (IIB) backyards gardens tours. They’ve had a full day enjoying hospitality Ironton style and are back on the bus full of fond memories while motoring towards home.

Comments from these travelers have been very positive with most people expressing an interest to return again next year. Only this time they also plan on bringing along more family members and friends. It may be two or three buses load in 2012.

Great! Bring them back to our town! We also distributed information about the annual Christmas season church walk which created plenty of interest. A seed was planted about future business.

Let’s do the math for this one-day excursion and take a look at economic impact of this tourism related event. For simplicity I’m using round numbers with 40 paying participants with all prices including taxes and gratuities.

Brunch was a bill of $520, tour guide fees were $200, IIB collected $400 and another $400 was the lunch costs. There are some other incidental expenses that could not be tracked.

That’s over $1,500 generated by this event. Not bad!

Now consider the money spent during the weekend-long Rally on the River and I am sure you agree that tourism can and does generate revenue.

Is there a market for these tourism events? My answer is absolutely! People are always looking for new things to see and do. Ironton is within a day’s drive of 60 percent of the American population.

We have many unique features to offer especially when we package it with other tri-state venues.

I’ve outlined the easy part. The difficult part now is to go out and market this vision. With a committed community effort I am positive that some creative marketing will occur.

As always I encourage your comments and/or questions. Contact me at 740.550.9540 or thetravelprofessor@gmail.com.

Got travel? E-mail Steve Call at the travelprofessor@gmail.com or dial 740.550.9540.