Article: Tourism Students Share Ideas with Rural Community Leaders

Tourism Students Share Ideas with Rural Community Leaders

Jeremy Brooks is among the first to say it.

The two-letter word eases out of his lips and bounces around the packed classroom, gaining momentum until it's repeated hundreds of times by a bevy of Arizona State University students.

Many of them don't even seem to realize the importance of the word -- "we" -- as they discuss unique ways to increase tourism in Chino Valley and four other rural Arizona communities. But Dr. Tim Tyrrell's smile keeps widening as his students sound more and more like longtime residents of the small towns they hadn't known existed before taking the Tourism Planning course. "We want to bring in the tourism aspect but keep our small-town feeling," says Brooks.

Brooks was among 50 students of the School of Community Resources and Development who addressed community leaders on April 23 to share their ideas for attracting visitors to Chino Valley, Superior, Gila Bend, Jerome and Coolidge.

This marked the first time in the 10-year history of the course that students have presented their improvement strategies directly to representatives from the cities and towns.

It's a new way the College of Public Programs is putting theory into practice, helping students at the Downtown Phoenix campus apply what they learn in order to directly impact communities.

Students formed five teams which each ventured into a selected community to assess the area's resources and speak with local officials, residents and visitors. They came up with ideas for sustainable tourism development that minimizes the negative impacts of tourism and takes full advantage of its benefits. The Arizona Office of Tourism co-sponsored the project.

Student suggestions for increasing tourism ranged from adding an outdoor civic marketplace in Chino Valley where residents frequently would gather, to making the inactive mines of Jerome safe enough to open for tours.

Team members who focused on Gila Bend proposed a plan they said would double tourism in the city, which has less than 2,000 residents. They suggested building a "desert oasis attraction" with a hummingbird facility, a small café with outdoor seating, and trails featuring native minerals and geology.

"We see this as a way to celebrate the natural area of Gila Bend without depleting its assets," says junior Austin Beber.

Another idea included adding a gateway in Jerome similar to the Cincinnati Gateway, allowing talented folks from the town's artist colony to play a role in its design. Residents could vote on their favorite artist's renditions to help in providing a unique identity for their community.

Melanie Oliver, Superior's interim town manager, says she was particularly impressed with a team's idea of marketing the town in an "old-West" theme, complete with an attraction that would make tourists feel they were on a Western movie set.

"I think they did a wonderful job with their presentation," says Oliver.