Below freezing temperatures may have you thinking about getting away, but community leaders are hoping you'll think about "Rediscovering the Quad Cities".
That's the theme of this year's Be a Tourist in Your Own Backyard weekend. "It really encourages the Quad City locals to go and visit the attractions and the hotels in the community," says Hotel Blackhawk General Manager Tim Heim. "And it really lets them know what the Quad Cities has to offer."
What started with one night 12 years ago -- has taken off. Now more than 45 area hotels, attractions and restaurants offer discounts and deals. Heim lists some of them. "River Music Experience, the Moline Public Library, the Quad City Mallards, Isabel Bloom, the Quad City Botanical Center, John Deere Pavilion and Ski Snowstar."
Managers at all of them are hoping you'll spend a weekend in the city without actually making the drive. "We do compete with the Chicago market," Heim says, "but the great thing about the Quad Cities is we can do things at almost half the cost."
He says that's good not only for local families, but also the community we live in. "We're traditionally slower right now, so this actually helps the hotels put heads in beads, per se." Last year, more than 350 hotel rooms were booked. Heim says the tourism impact of that is $100,000. But it could be even bigger.
"The great thing about driving locals to our venues is, once they go and experience that, they also go and talk about it. And you never know who's involved in an organization and who can bring an event to the quad cities." Those could bring new visitors whose backyards may not have a view like ours.
