- 2010
- Guideline / Toolkit
- USA
The Community Tourism Development manual was designed to provide organizations and individuals with a development process and materials to help communities plan, initiate, and expand tourism as a means of long-term economic development. The development concepts are applicable to communities of all sizes and at various stages of tourism development.
An important element of this manual is the incorporation of case studies and examples. Researchers have followed tourism development in four communities first profiled in 1991, and their stories of tourism development over the years are included. These communities are Dahlonega, Georgia; San Luis, Colorado; Sandpoint, Idaho; and the Villages of Van Buren, Iowa. Each community realized success and challenges with its tourism programs, and lessons learned are shared in the case studies included in this manual.
This manual first evolved from the National Rural Tourism Development Project initiated by the University of Minnesota Tourism Center in 1991. Since then, Community Tourism Development and the previous Rural Tourism Development manual have been used by tourism, economic, and community development professionals, by community-based volunteers, and by educators and university faculty to help communities implement effective tourism programs. It has also been integrated into academic courses studying tourism and community development.
