City launches summer tourism campaign

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By DREW KERR / Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln’s chief tourism guru says local residents should retain more of their unleaded gold this summer and opt for the Star City’s attractions rather than hit the highways.

Jeff Maul, executive director of the Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau, said high gas prices are a good reason for locals to visit the Lincoln Children’s Zoo instead of, say, the Henry Doorly about 60 miles away in Omaha.

“You’re going to save hundreds at the pump,” Maul said Thursday, flanked by a John Deere Model B tractor at the Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum. “It’s just smarter to go five minutes from home.”

Gas prices averaged $3.34 in Nebraska and AAA reported lodging and restaurant costs were up 3.7 percent from last year as Maul talked up Lincoln’s 30 local attractions.

The “Be a Tourist in Your Own Home Town” campaign Maul presented includes a “passport” featuring 12 Lincoln attractions. Participants collect stamps for stopping by. Anyone who collects seven stamps will be eligible for prizes.

Billboards across the city are advertising such local amenities as the Museum of Nebraska History, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and that giant tower in the middle of town, the state Capitol.

“I think most people ignore some of the places we have locally,” Maul said. “I’d be willing to bet most people haven’t been through the Capitol since elementary school.”

Participation has grown exponentially since the program began four years ago, he said. Last summer, 3,000 people turned in completed passports.

Organizers say that kind of turnout is why they’re seeing other cities follow Lincoln’s lead and highlight their local offerings.

“When we started this, we were one of just a few in the country,” Maul said. “We’re starting to see a lot more of it now.”

Jeremy Steele of the tractor museum on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus said the campaign helps attract visitors “tremendously.”

“One of our biggest challenges is paying for advertising,” he said. “This takes care of that.”

The museum houses 30 tractors that date back to the early 1900s.

“It’s a farm experience in the middle of the city,” Steele said.

Reach Drew Kerr at 473-7223 or dkerr@journalstar.com.