In 1991 alone, total retail sales rose 44 percent despite an ongoing recession. That year, the City Council strongly approved a new ordinance with amortization provisions to further reduce the number of billboards. The President s Commission on Americans Outdoors reported that natural beauty was the most important criteria for adults choosing a site for outdoor recreation. The more a community does to enhance its unique natural, scenic, historic, and architectural assets, the more tourists it attracts. From 1976 - 1978, tourism revenues increased by over 50 percent.
Tourism is up for all businesses large and small.
The absence of billboards in Vermont is the best billboard for all of the tourist business. Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont all prohibit billboards statewide and still draw people from around the world to their scenic wonders. Billboard Alternatives Work Billboards are not essential because alternatives do exist. Logo signs and TODS display only essential information for travelers and are smaller, less obtrusive, more affordable, and easier to read than billboards. Logo signs advertise gas, food, camping, and lodging at nearby highway exits and already exist on interstates in at least 44 states.