The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1918-02-22
IARpOA sPR'Gs AND TOURISTS
Continued from page ~

ana quickly loSC iC as tIey 1oSt Inc
old. Then certain unpopular prophets
rose up and spoke some truths, to wit:
sYou fellows expect to get the
Lord to do it all, whereas the law
is that He helps those who help
themselves. Your hotels are made
quate and not up to the standard.
Your streets are badly paved and
dusy; your sidewalks are insufficient
and rough. You have no amusements
to offer your guests except glimpses
into the historic past, which are not
interesting when you are hungry and
have no decent place to Sleep"
Then followed a reformation.
Two new million-dollar hotels were
built, and other followed quickly.
Ten million dollars We're voted in
bonds to build the streets, put in
storm sewers, and to improve the
country roads.
The dust nuisance was banished.
Golf courses were built, one of
them magnificent municipal course;
the army put in polo grounds; num-
erous tennis courts were built; Eng
fish capital put seven million dol
lars in a great irrigation proposition
and there created lake of the same
superficial area as Lake George in
New York State
San Antonio now had the goods to
deliver, and proceeded to advertise
the obvious thing. She embarked in a
series of advertising campaigns which
she has kept up constantly since 1909,
barring one year. In these campaigns
approximately $4,000 a year is ex-
pended. We have tried, by careful
study of the tourist business, to find
where our tourists come from and to
advertise for more tourists in those
communities, with reasonable pro-
portion of the funds to advertise for
new business in new communities.
Newspaper Ads Greatest Aids
We tried advertising in the nation
al magazines. Il paid, but it did not
pay as well as advertising in the lead
ing newspapers in the. definite local
tiles from which our tourist trade is
naturally drawn; and the reason is that
only a portion of the business .gener-
ated by the national magazine adver-
Using were able to follow up with per-
sonal craftsmanship.
That was because the travelling
passenger agents i n the territory
served by the railroads centering in
San Antonio followed each prospect
that we sent them with personal So
iicitation.
The railroads giving us this service
have allies and feeders that cover a
great territory, roughly speaking,
from Cleveland on the east to Denver
on the west. This territory we have
come to look upon as our tourist ter
ritory. Outside that, we have not been
able to get the railroad passenger
agents to take the same personal in
terest in presenting our San Antonio
proposition. Inside that, the railroad
men have worked for San Antonio as
definitely as if San Antonio paid them
a salary, and it is easy to see that in
working for San Antonio they are
also working for themselves.
San Antonio was one of the first
of the tourist cities to appreciate the
great value of the railroads in build
ing a tourist business, and so one of
the first cities to bring about a close
cooperation between the city and the
railroads in this work. Our expert
ence has convinced me that without
the full and hearty cooperation of the
railroads it is practically impossible
to build tourist business in any
section or community.
While some business will be done,
OF course, beyond the natural terri
tory, the bulk of the advertising and
the major part Of the effort can only
be proftably invested in the territory
thus defined and interested.
The advertising for tourists is not
limited to newspaper advertising. San
Antonio has used profitably illustrat-
ed lectures, some motion pictures,
some billboards, and occasionally del
egations of citizens who make visits
to trade centers and take advantage
of some extraneous mission to adver-
tise the advantages of their own local |
ity.
That a tourist business is profitable,
it is unnecessary to argue.
The winter tourist business gave
Los Angeles, California, it's start.