Michigan State University Extension
Tourism Educational Materials - 33529773
06/06/02
INVENTORYING EXISTING AND POTENTIAL TOURISM ATTRACTIONS
Source: Arkansas
ID: FSCDJ17
Format: Full Text
Author: Hedges, Michael
Year: 1991
Cooperative Extension Service
Tourism Development Series
Inventorying Existing and Potential Tourism Attractions
University of Arkansas, United States Department of
Agriculture, and County Governments Cooperating
by
Hedges, Michael A.
Extension Specialist - Commercial Recreation
The first step in market analysis and tourism development
is to determine what your community has to attract
tourists. An inventory lists and assesses all actual and
potential attractions. An attraction is anything which
will entice people to stop and look---so do not
underestimate the potential attraction of any structure,
event, or site. There are innumerable possibilities, and
it may be that a community with a, certain amount of
tourism may have missed some possibilities.
Your completed inventory can be used:
- In market analysis
- As a planning aid
- As a basis for distinguishing between primary and
secondary attractions
- To help determine development priorities
What Will Be Inventoried?
Tourist attractions which exist or which could be
developed will be inventoried. Attractions are divided
into two groups: core attractions and supporting
attractions. Certainly, tourism involves more than these
two components. The support or facilitating services are
also very important. Lodging and food accommodations,
transportation, parking, public services such as police
protection, medical care, sanitation and handicapped
accessibility are also essential components of a tourism
industry, and all of these could and should be
inventoried.
Core Attractions are basic assets your community offers.
They form the theme for the area. While they may seem
commonplace to the citizens of your community, these
attractions could have much appeal to tourists.
- Natural attractions might be an outstanding lake, a
beautiful forest, an interesting geological formation, a
sunny warm climate, or a beautiful mountain.
- Man-made attractions include an amusement park, a
racetrack, an old automobile museum, an outdoor theater or
opera house, a string of craft shops and antique stores,
or even a modern factory tour. Certainly, larger cities
may contain many man-made attractions.
- Historical attractions include battle sites, old forts,
historical museums, monuments, pioneer churches, or the
home of a famous person.
- Ethnic cultural attractions give tourists an opportunity
to view the customs of times past--- perhaps a ghost town
or a pioneer community.
- Special events are generally community sponsored
activities designed to entertain, educate, or allow
tourist participation. Such events may include a Boy Scout
Jamboree; a homes tour; a jazz, rock, or folk music
festival; a pioneer day, antique week, crafts events, or
harvest celebrations. Such events may take only part of a
day or may go on for weeks. They may supplement or use a
natural, man-made, or historical attraction or may simply
be creations of a community group. Once begun, such events
constitute the very heart of a community's tourism
development.
Supporting Attractions. The core attraction is the
principal interest of the community, but it is not nor
cannot be the only attraction. The fact that a site's core
attraction is its river location can create a need for
many peripheral or supporting attractions. A river town,
for example, could create a sky ride over the river.
Fishing supply stores, marinas, and boat-related
businesses should prosper. Excursion boat rides and other
minor attractions will enhance and exploit the major river
attraction.
In some instances, a major attraction can be created from
the small existing supportive attractions. A community,
for example, might restore several old homes or
architectural landmarks simply as a matter of civic pride.
The notoriety gained from these minor attractions might
lead to wider exploitation adn development into an
historical theme or major attraction for the whole
community.
The aspect of entertainment cannot be overlooked,
especially for communities hoping to attract convention
business. While it may itself be a core attraction, such
as in Las Vegas or Disney World, it is also a vital
supplement to many tourist attractions. Music halls,
theater, movies, bowling lanes, golf-driving ranges,
miniature golf, spectator sporting events and the like,
would fall in the category of supportive attractions.
Checklist of Actual and Potential Sites
Obviously, it is easier to inventory what can be seen as
opposed to what does not yet exist. Using an extensive
checklist, which covers many or all basic categories, may
suggest additional attractions which might otherwise be
overlooked. The Tourism Checklist below provides an
extensive checklist for your inventory.
(Vis. 1)
(Vis. 2)
(Vis. 3)
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HEDGES is Extension Specialist - commercial recreation,
University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service,
Little Rock.
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts
of May 8 and June 30, 1914 in cooperation with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Dr. David E. Foster, Director
of Extension Service, University of Arkansas. The Arkansas
Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all
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origin, sex, age, or handicap, and is an Equal Opportunity
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