The Niagara USA 2010 visitors guide is out.
The 56-page magazine promotes everything in Niagara County from the Ransomville Speedway to Fatima Shrine.
What you won't find are listings for cultural attractions in Erie County like the Darwin Martin House, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Burchfield Penney Art Center.
Why not? That was a question raised at a meeting of tourism representatives Thursday morning in Niagara Falls as the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. unveiled a new two-year marketing strategy.
NTCC President John Percy told tourism leaders that the agency has discussed how much focus it should give cultural attractions in neighboring counties.
"We've had this discussion over and over," Percy said. "We do promote it. It's not specifically in our visitors guide. The unfortunate thing is the cost of the visitors guide. ... It's where do you stop?"
Adding more attractions outside of Niagara County, Percy said, means adding more pages to the guide at a significant cost to the NTCC.
Pamela Forge, publisher of "Explore New York," attended Thursday's meeting and had a different take.
"I think I can shed light on that," Forge said after the meeting. "Most counties, because of the government funding and bed tax, have to be parochial about things. It's a shame."
Read more about the NTCC's new two-year marketing strategy here.
Listen to Percy describe the marketing strategy in this audio clip:
-- Denise Jewell Gee
tagged
Niagara Falls | tourism
