I write this from my son's home in Northern California where my two SoCal grandchildren and I traveled to be with my two NoCal grandkids this Memorial weekend.  Airfare was cost prohibitive given all the add-ons.  The train has gone up, and bus rides are just too long and costly when you add it together.  The only way to get three of us here in some relatively cost-effective manner was to rent a car with very high mpg.  I got a great rate.  It's the fuel that was the killer.  I paid $4.26 a gallon in Atascadero, California.  Didn't have much choice since the gauge was low, and I wasn't sure it was going to be any cheaper up the road (I'd heard horror stories about gas in the San Francisco Bay area). 

 

So who cares, right?  Well, you should.  The cost of fuel is astronomical, and with all the airlines tacking on fees (American Airlines will now charge an extra $30 round trip for the FIRST bag) and cutbacks in service, it appears that people will be doing less and less travel.  With folks losing their homes because of the poor economy, tourism (and most probably jobs in cascading order) will be harder to come by. 

 

The article in the link at bottom is from today's USA Today and talks about families taking more StayCations.  Instead of traveling, folks are buying things to appease some of their creature comforts and are planning to spend their summer vacations at home.  This could have a marked effect on visitation at your museums and, if tourism and revenue decline, there go the funds for jobs.  It's just a question of time, and this could well be like the museum "industry" immediately following 9/11.  With no end in site on the current recession (oops, I said it!), it's time to get creative and figure out how your institutions can survive.  No time to be ostriches.

 

What can YOU and YOUR institution do to attract local citizenry?  If the term has been coined, "StayCation," how can you include that in your marketing?  How can you appeal to folks who aren't going anywhere this summer, that you've got the best deal in town?  The see your own neighborhood first campaign.  Are you air conditioned?  How long can they wile away the time?  Do you have volunteers who do kiddy exercises that can keep them entertained?  We're not talking videogames, though interactive exhibits will appeal to this set.  How about songs the wee ones can learn that involve clapping, dancing, and other participatory techniques?  Can you appeal to the blood and guts gang with something in your exhibit that would make them squeal and squirm they just didn't know was there?  Can you tie to Indiana Jones or Narnia somehow?  What about SpeedRacer (for car museums?)

 

Folks, it's time to get VERY creative or experience significant job loss.  What is your institution doing to stop the loss in tourism, and how can YOU help?  That's your mission today and in the day's ahead. 

 

It's a dirty little topic, but somebody had to raise it.  Now put on your thinking caps, and let's set about trying to turn this around before it gets inside out.  If folks don't have the discretionary income to go to Paris, how can you convinced them you have all they'll ever need to see right there in Podunk USA (or wherever you are in the world, Waldo)?