CARBONDALE, Ill. (KFVS) – Tourism equals tax dollars, and leaders in Carbondale want to bring more visitors and wallets to the city.
Now, leaders are exploring different options to spearhead the city’s tourism.
The city is looking to promote what is in and around town a whole lot better and for cheaper according to city leaders.
“We want people to see what we have in Carbondale,” said Roni LeForge-Croxell.
And to do that, city leaders are looking at 3 different options to best showcase the area.
“We want people to you know especially in the St. Louis metropolitan area as well Chicago and day trip and weekend trip visitors to know what we have here in the Carbondale are,” said LeForge-Croxell.
From hiking at Giant City State Park or Cedar Lake, to the local wineries, to sporting tournaments, those are some of the activities the city wants to promote.
In November, the city will also be taking over the maintenance of the Superblock.
They are hoping to have sporting tournaments there in the future.
One long-time resident of the area, for 40 years, says he would promote bicycle trails.
“And Carbondale recently has been developing kind of a network of bicycle trails so I’d like to see that publicized more,” said Thomas Riechman.
He tells me if he was on a tourism committee in Carbondale, he would also highlight some unique hospitality options.
“There’s a lot of bed and breakfast accommodations not especially in Carbondale, well there may be some there but just on the outside of Carbondale,” said Riechman.
Another local would like to see more food options highlighted.
“We’ve got some food trucks in the area now and I think the more of those we have around the more we talk about them, the more we advertise, that’s a fun option,” said Mary Avery.
Pre pandemic, the city spent more than $300,000 annually on tourism.
The city is considering plans from Carbondale Tourism, Southernmost Illinois Tourism and Illinois South Tourism.
“Obviously social media is where the majority of people are getting the ideas of where they want to travel and you know tourism is a very visual promoted by what you see and we want to people to see what we have in Carbondale and social media is the way to do that.” Said LeForge-Croxell
The decision is up to the city council to decide what direction to go. According to city leaders, they are unsure of when that decision will be.
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