Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993 TAG: 9312080284
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Lon Wagner
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A colleague here at the newspaper has a similar idea about marketing Roanoke and the rest of Western Virginia. Artist Rob Lunsford's tongue-in-cheek theory is: "We have one resource here, and that's nothing."
As the success of "Seinfeld" has proved, "nothing" is something. The Lunsford theory of selling Roanoke is similar. Lunsford sees Roanoke as an outpost, a place where city slickers and European travelers could come to experience true America.
Outdoors stores would have human guides or detailed maps for the person who wanted to spend a day hiking the Appalachian Trail, a morning mountain biking, an afternoon tubing or canoeing on the New River or at Smith Mountain Lake, or a weekend driving the Blue Ridge Parkway.
"It's like in Colorado, years ago," Lunsford explains. "There was so much of nothing, that everybody went there."
"How are we missing this? It's here. Everybody who comes here from someplace else talks about what a beautiful place it is."
It's been a while since Lunsford, a lifelong Roanoke resident, came up with this elaborate theory, but he still remembers some of his potential slogans for promotional bumper stickers:
"Roanoke: Moments Away from Nothing."
"Roanoke is Nowhere."
While this approach might seem little more than a sarcastic poke at the region's recent lack of population growth, there's more to it.
The state Department of Economic Development's Division of Tourism has statistics showing that foreign visitors identify the activities Western Virginia offers as tops on their things-to-do list.
The United States Travel and Tourism Administration conducts in-flight surveys of international travelers. The category "visiting scenic places" was the preferred activity of British, French and Japanese tourists, while it ranked second with the Germans.
Sandy Walsh, with the Division of Tourism, said visitors from each country approach exploring the outdoors differently. Any program aimed at attracting foreign visitors would have to have options for the Japanese, who like things to be organized, as well as the Germans, who are more adventuresome.
"The Japanese are starting to do things outdoors, but they're more timid - they want to know what they're getting into," Walsh said. "The Germans would probably just jump in and find out."
Bern Ewert, the former Roanoke city manager who spent much of the past two years in the Czech Republic, said he discovered while overseas how much the Europeans "love to walk."
"It's completely changed my view of the attractiveness of the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway to international visitors," Ewert said recently.
He noted that the largest national forest in Europe is the 170,000-acre Bavarian Forest in what was Czechoslovakia. By contrast, Ewert said, there are 2 million acres of national forest within 60 miles of Roanoke.
Interestingly, a Blacksburg architect has proposed an international park to take advantage of the nothingness that Lunsford and others think is saleable. Bob Rogers has made his pitch to the New Century Council, a group trying to develop a coordinated economic strategy for the region.
Rogers' idea is to link the region's noteable features into a global educational park. Even gas stations could have attendants wearing badges promoting the park - as long as the gas station met basic standards of marketing and courtesy.
This idea of selling the region's most obvious asset - the beauty of its natural features - has an advantage beyond bringing tourism dollars - or yen, marks, francs and pounds - to the valleys.
It could unite those who want the region to grow and those who don't want growth to ruin the place.
"We want to encourage people not to stay," Lunsford says. "Enjoy the weekend, enjoy the week, and GO HOME."
Foreign visitors would come and go, leaving behind only their money.
More small, support-oriented businesses would spring up - like the scuba equipment shops that appeared only after Smith Mountain Lake filled up.
Existing businesses would have to expand services; a foreign visitor's trip to Roanoke would involve fewer hassles, for instance, if he were able to exchange German marks for dollars at area banks.
But all in all, the idea seems too obvious and beneficial not to pursue.
"What we have here is great. I'm sure other places have it too, but no one has come up with a way to give people easy access to it," Lunsford says.
by CNB