National Travel & Tourism Week May 5-11, 2019

“Travel Matters” is the theme for this year’s National Travel & Tourism Week, May 5-11.  Travel & Tourism is very important to Arrow Rock so I would like to share a few observations. 

I pass popular tourist sites like the George Caleb Bingham House every day.  I can’t help but think of how it supports our community.  The George Caleb Bingham House and the 1829 Museum, along with the J. Huston Tavern and the Arrow Rock State Visitor’s Center & Museum are the backbone of Arrow Rock.  These places, along with many others in our village, define our community, provide our families with jobs and have given tens of thousands of visitors annually a lifetime of memories.

Travel matters and it improves Arrow Rock in ways that have a wide-reaching impact on our local residents.  Travel supports almost every facet of Arrow Rock.   Traveler’s make plans to attend live theater performances at the Lyceum Theatre allowing time for a pre-show dinner reservation, along with shopping on the Boardwalk.  A restful night in a Bed and Breakfast followed by a delicious hot breakfast, sends them back out to travel the highways refreshed and looking forward to their next visit to Arrow Rock.  The really fortunate travelers know that two nights are better than one in Arrow Rock.  For there is too much history and sight seeing to capture in one afternoon.  Staying an extra day allows them to take a Tram tour with the Friends of Arrow Rock, watch a movie about Arrow Rock at the Visitor’s Center, dine in other restaurants and visit historic buildings they didn’t have time for the previous evening.  They may even have time to take a drive down to the Arrow Rock Ferry Landing site where wagons once disembarked to begin their journey on the Santa Fe Trail.  Or walk the trail to the Arrow Rock River landing imagining how it would have been with a steamboat docked unloading its wares. 

Travel Matters.  It can strengthen families, foster hometown pride and build bridges that connect us with one another.  At the national level, travel is critical to the U.S. economy and American jobs.  As a leader in workforce development and career advancement – travel creates and supports 15.7 million jobs across the U.S, making it the seventh largest private -sector employer.  In 2018, traveler spending generated $171 billion in total tax revenue, including $78.6 billion in state and local revenue.  That $78.6 billion can pay for a host of critical resources:  it’s more than enough to pay all state and local police and firefighters, or the more than one million public high school teachers.

Travel is powerful for cities and states, and Arrow Rock is no exception.  The entire village of Arrow Rock has been designated a National Historic Landmark.  Arrow Rock is the first State Historic Site in the State of Missouri.  With the J. Huston Tavern being the first building in the state purchased for historic preservation purposes and in 1926 the Arrow Rock State Park was established.  Camping, fishing and picnics in the park are enjoyed by many families all summer and into the fall.  Think about how travel matters in your neck of the woods.  Travel-dependent leisure and hospitality is the largest small business employer in the U.S.

Travel matters and so when I and my husband Ardee welcome guests to Flint Creek Inn in Arrow Rock we always ask them, “Have you visited Arrow Rock before?”  If they say no then we have the joy of sharing all that our village has to offer and let them know that hard working visionaries have kept this village alive to enlighten, educate, entertain and give restoration to the weary traveler just as it always has.

 So, I hope you will join me this week in elevating the message of “Travel Matters” during National Travel and Tourism Week.  I encourage you to join us in observing NTTW this year, and celebrate all that travel does for Arrow Rock, and for our country as a whole.  Add us to your calendar for a couple days this year.  Ardee and I will try our best to make sure you are not disappointed.

If you have any photos of your travels to Arrow Rock and would like to share them so I can post them on our blog, please email to info@flintcreekinn.com.  Statistical information contained in my article was provided by www.ustravel.org  A great site about travel and its importance for all of America.

Safe Travels,

Penny