Evening star., 1928-11-25
TOURIST TRADE
PROVES VALUABLE
Travellers Spend Millions in
Towns Along Highways
of America.
BY HARRAL AYRES,

Managing Director, Old Spanish Trail.
SAN ANTONIO, Tex, November 23.-
The most valuable business for COM
munfty is the American tourist and
travel business. but it is business that
must be sought intelligently. 1t has
already grown to gigantic proportions,
and 1t brings to community steady
supply of cash. Local crops may fail,
but the American travel movement
keeps on steadily in its chosen chan
nels. Statistics respecting automobile
travel are becoming well authenticated,
but the figures are so amazing people
hesitate to accept them.
We know there are $4,000, 900 motor
vehicles now In the United States. The
A. A. A. and other auto clubs routing
travellers now total nearly 1900. In
addition, travel bureaus are maintained
by great newspapers, magazines, banks,
chambers of commerce, department.
stores and numerous other organiza-
tions. Reports show there are 40,000,000
tourist travellers annually, and they
spend a total of two billions of dollars.
One Dollar Worth Seven.
We know a dollar received passes
through many hands. Economists tell
us the average circulation value OF a
dollar to the community is ST. On this
principle the two billions spent annu-
ally by the 40.000,000 auto travellers rep
resents fourteen billions of dollars cir
culation values to the communities.
The United States Department OF
Commerce recently announced that the
passports. issued so far this year indicate
nine hundred millions will be spent in
foreign countries during 1928. With the
progress of paved highways the tendency
to "go to Europe" will, let us hope, be
restrained.
The automobile trunk line today is
more attractive for travel than the
railroad. Every car owner knows how
much he prefers to Jump in his car
and go' than travel by train. More
over, the home seeker and the investor
can more readily seek by auto the
opportunities he wants. More people,
] am. reliably informed, entered South
ern California this past year over the
Old Spanish Trail than by train. Re-
Gently while in Florida a hotel man
showed me his register. The ratio Of"
arrivals were 140 by auto to by train.
r. H. Mcdonald, chief of the Federal
Bureau Of Roads, reports 'as a whole
traffic on the roads of the United States
has doubled in less than five years"
Tourist Crop" Hazy.
The local people are educated to a
devotion to their local crops. The
tourist crop" is still something hazy,
and the people are slow adjusting them
selves to the arts of cooperation 70
bring this crop to their locality.
For a generation, while national
highways have been slowly developing,
the American traveller has been roam
ing about. The national parks of the
West have attracted him in Summer.
Canada claims 5000 100000 annually
from the tourist. California and Flor
ida have been universal objectives.
Now new world opening close to the
After 13 years of work the Old Spanish
Trail offers fine driving from st.
Augustine, Fla, to San Diego, Calf,
and paveda feeders in the East are
Building down to it. A half of this
highway Is now paved, most of the
remainder is gravel, and but two ferries
remain. It ties together the romantic
cities Of the three centuries of the
Spanish era; the realms that the old
Spanish padres and conquiStadores
loved so well and crowned with so many
remarkable works. 1t lies in the VIM
ter sunshine belt from Florida to Cali
fornia. 1t opens the Gulf of Mexico
country and the Mexican border. coun-
try, and now highways, down into Old
Mexico are opening that interesting
land to Old Spanish Trail travel.
Moreover, this far southern trunk
line opens the last and greatest frontier
to the home seeker and investor and a
new national migration is turning to
this newly opened world. The covered
wagon and the railroad have per-
formed we'll their part as territorial de-
velopers; today it is the age of the
automobile. The people of this far
southern land have poured their hearts
and souls and $70,000,000. into these
thousands of miles of roads and S5
miles OF bridges and causeways and are
committed to S40,000,000 more. A peo-
pie and land capable Of this have
much to offer the American traveller.