Tourism's Role in Re-writing the Story
And some updates!
Hi, friends. Posting two weeks in a row is a rarity for me, but I wanted to share some updates as well as an article I just came across. Let’s start with the article.
In “Is tourism Mississippi’s untapped solution to the brain drain?” Danielle Morgan with the Mississippi Tourism Association writes about tourism’s role in reversing out-migration. She writes:
“If we are serious about tackling brain drain, we must stop seeing tourism as ‘just’ a leisure industry, but rather a strategic tool for workforce retention, talent attraction and community revitalization.”
She adds that brain drain is not just about jobs: “Young professionals want more than a paycheck. They want communities with character, cultural vibrancy and opportunities to connect. Tourism development builds these qualities.”
If you’re not so sure about the assertion that tourism contributes to community vibrancy, consider the fact that 37% of local spending in Mississippi from April - June of this year is attributed to visitors.
As for life quality, some of you may know the Brookings article, “Improving quality of life – not just business – is the best path to Midwestern rejuvenation.” From Mississippi to the Midwest, we are hearing more and more about the turning of the tide in terms of how people make life decisions. Are we listening?
I tend not to lump tourism into this equation, but Morgan reminds us that it all starts with a visit and “that Mississippi’s story is ours to write.” That part caught my attention because I was in New Albany, MS in June co-facilitating a Trail Town workshop (here are some photos). We gathered literally down the block from William Faulkner’s childhood home. In fact, there was a watercolor on display that was inspired by Faulkner’s 1946 short story, “His Name Was Pete.” I was so enamored by the Pete in the painting that I made the purchase and waited most of the summer for him to make his way to Pittsburgh (he was on exhibit). This is a bit of a tangent, but:
This story reminds me that I was part of the Q2 visitor spending referenced in the article.
The story that’s being re-written in Mississippi includes culture, heritage, outdoor recreation, and vibrant, inclusive communities. That’s the kind of community I encountered in New Albany in June.
Finally, both the Faulkner connection and the idea of “writing the story” bring me to Margaret Renkyl’s Graceland, at Last. Subtitled “Hope and Heartache in the American South,” one of the book’s finest essays considers what it means to be a Southern writer. I don’t want to spoil it for you, so just go ahead and check out the New York Times version of the essay. It’s a short, quality read that will have you thinking about why we stay.
About that poem I wrote about last week…
Last week’s post, Closer to Home, included a story about a poem set in my Pittsburgh neighborhood. A few of you pondered with me as to whether Harry Truman actually drank an Iron City in the shadow of a steel mill. The poem referenced local poet Michael Wurster as being there. Wouldn’t you know that I ran into Michael at the post office the other day and asked him about it. “It never happened,” he told me. “We [poets] make things up.” So there you have it, at least according to Michael.
About Annie Dillard and my May post…
Some of you may recall my Sweetness in Four Parts post, in which I talked about local libraries, Annie Dillard, Mister Rogers, and the sweetness of community building. I shared how I visited the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s rare books collection so that I could view the Field Book of Ponds and Streams. I did this because the book was informative to Pittsburgh native Annie Dillard as a child. Not long after I posted, Kathi gave me a copy of the book for my birthday. Not only this, but it’s one that the author, Ann Haven Morgan, inscribed to one of her associates! Dated July 12, 1930, she inscribed it to Inez M. Haring, “Who, in your quest of nature, disturb the ponds, turn over the rocks of streams, dig up the sand of the ocean shores - pursuing ever some lowly creature in the spot he thinks secure! Then to hang on his tiny week a terrible name of Latin Words!”
Is this not amazing? Haring studied mosses. I wondered whether any of her work was cited in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Gathering Moss. It’s not, but it’s so easy to see the throughline: Morgan, Haring, Carson, Dillard, Kimmerer, and so many others whose pursuit of knowledge – and even the most minute details of the natural world – spark the sort of wonder that ripples, and not just across ponds and streams.
Upcoming Events
I’ll be speaking at the following events this fall. Drop a note in the comments if I should look out for you!
PA Greenways and Trails Summit
The Arrowhead Coalition of Trails (MN) Annual Event
Trails Manitoba’s Trail Talks 2025
The Appalachian Places: Growing Local Economies conference
Sorry, but…
We can’t accept any new engagements in September or October. Cycle Forward’s dance card is full at the moment. Please do stay in touch with any possibilities for winter and spring projects. It’s what helps us keep doing this work on behalf of trail communities far and wide.
Meet Pete:
Amy! What a fantastic collection of newsletter snippets. Who wouldn't love Pete, but what commitment to wait months to welcome him home!
A few notes on the topic of tourism and quality of life/community as attractive forces for new residents and businesses...
In the mid-1990s, Ray Rasker (retired economist and founder of Headwaters Economics) and some of his colleagues formalized the term, "travel-stimulated entrepreneurial migration." (Snepenger, D.J., J.D. Johnson and R. Rasker. 1995. Travel-stimulated entrepreneurial
migration. Journal of Travel Research. 34(1): 40-44. I think you can download a full-text PDF here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249700939_Travel-Stimulated_Entrepreneurial_Migration)
Their research (especially a survey of business owners that's not hard to replicate locally) showed that, for business owners three Montana counties north of Yellowstone National Park, quality of life factors (including environmental, recreational and social) are important in
businesses owner’s decision to locate there. Also, the study found that the majority of business owners came to the Greater Yellowstone area first as tourists.
Not every place boasts the same depth and breadth of natural and recreational amenities as Greater Yellowstone, but every place does have something going for it that it can build on.
A recently released literature review confirms that rural tourism development can spark local entrepreneurship and revitalize communities by leveraging cultural, historical, and natural assets. From the article summary: "The review finds that while tourism can significantly contribute to local economies, successful outcomes depend on strategic planning, community engagement, and the integration of cultural assets. https://www.atu.edu/business/jbao/spring2025/11%20Bradley%20Clemens%20Floyd%20Post.pdf
Finally, before I finish geeking out, a study published in March 2023 explored the contributions of tourism for rural community development. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-023-01610-4
And one more study that I want to highlight, while we're thinking about why people move to rural areas, small towns, and small cities: The Montana Movers study. https://www.montana.edu/extension/communitydevelopment/montanamovers.html
At the risk of oversimplifying the findings, what stood out for me in this study of people moving to Montana communities (from out-of-state or from elsewhere within the state) was that their reasons for moving broke out into three roughly equal-sized buckets:
1. People moving for a job
2. People moving home (back to the community or area where they grew up or to live closer to relatives)
3. People looking for a better quality of life
When I was a kid, my parents used to drive us from Wisconsin out to Wyoming (in whatever our current station wagon was) to visit my grandfather's ranch and steakhouse outside of Shell, Wyoming. Also, probably, to test the strength of their marriage and their love of their kids. It's a long drive.
I have no idea, really, what drove Grandpa's choice to uproot himself, post-divorce, and buy this property, ultimately selling his family's company and living full time on the ranch. But I can tell you that, despite the endless fascination of fossil-hunting and Wild West stories, this country never appealed to my parents as a place to live.
But, one year, we took a different route, driving first to Glacier National Park and then south to Yellowstone and the B-Bar-R, where we all ate steak and my dad fixed refrigerators and whatever else was broken on his father-in-law's guest ranch. Northwest Montana DID call to my parents, and within a year, my family became "travel-stimulated migrants" to the Flathead Valley.
This is not a new phenomenon, but it's powerful, and I love seeing tourism recognized for its contributions—and potentially greater contributions if we pay attention to it—to rural communities.