Despite higher gas prices, Illinois officials still anticipate a rise in travel and tourism this summer.
According to a story in the Peoria (Ill.) Journal-Star:
"Gas prices will have an impact, but the travel forecast is positive," said Jan Kostner, deputy director of the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, in a presentation at the Gateway Building on Tuesday.
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Kostner unveiled plans the state is offering to draw visitors in 2006 that include providing a $25 Shell gas card to those booking trips on the state's Web site, www.enjoyillinois.com
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Illinois tourism efforts are also being directed around the world, said Kostner.
"Illinois is the sixth most popular state for overseas visitors with over 1 million visitors last year, up by 18 percent over 2004," she said.
"We're working on a huge promotion in London with the movie, 'Cars' (an animated film to be released Friday) that promotes Route 66."
And in Washington Post writer Steve Mufson's story about the impact of gas prices on people's lives made these interesting observations:
In 1982, people in Boston waged a campaign to save a neon Citgo sign over Fenway Park's left-field wall that the company wanted to take down. After the city's landmarks commission intervened and a Boston Globe editorial said the sign was worthy of a "museum collection of modern art or technology," the company was persuaded to preserve the icon.
People feel so affectionate about the oil business of yore that many gasoline stations have been turned into museums, from one in Bo's Hollow, Mo., to what was once the corner of the Del Rio Canadian Road (83) and Route 66 in Shamrock, Texas, where, in the 1930s,
"Route 66 has an enduring appeal, like Elvis," said Jay Firsching, an architect who led the effort to restore the building. "People love the allure and legacy of Route 66, and they will travel across it as a hobby." He said he's seen caravans of motorcycles or Corvettes stop there. (Other nearby sites include an old, leaning water tower and Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, where Cadillacs are buried at 40-degree angles.)
But Firsching notes that most people don't stop to gawk at old gasoline stations or anyplace else when they travel these days. "Now it's about getting to destinations as fast as possible without stopping to look," he said. Americans still travel to sightsee, but more often they are driving as part of the grind of everyday commuting. And thanks to the style of real estate development over the past 20 years, they're doing more commuting than ever.
In other words, slow down and enjoy the scenery, folks. You'll enjoy yourselves more, and get better gas mileage to boot.