Eastern Iowa travel spots differ on response to high gas prices

Popular summer attractions in Iowa are divided on whether to ignore or embrace the challenge of sky-high gas prices.

There are wild extremes.

Riverside Casino & Golf Resort in Riverside is giving away $50 gas cards every five minutes on Sundays in June, in addition to a promotion for the last several months offering 25-cent-per-gallon vouchers for a local convenience store to casino customers who've met a minimum spending threshold.

“We certainly feel like the gasoline prices have had some effect in terms of the visitors who live farther away,” General Manager Dan Franz said.

Take it easy, say officials at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, which is still enjoying the benefits of a marketing blitz surrounding a major expansion last year.

“I'm not expecting an adverse effect because of the high gas prices,” said museum Director of Marketing and Sales John Sutter, noting that 50 percent of visitors come from within a 50-mile radius.

Those who ignore gas prices do so at their own peril. They are now 45 percent higher in Cedar Rapids than they were a year ago at $3.85 per gallon for regular unleaded, according to AAA. It's affected how far some travel marketers expect customers to travel.

The Amana Colonies Convention & Visitors Bureau tightened the focus of its advertising early this year when it saw gas prices rising, Executive Director Kristie Wetjen said, cutting back on the number of ad placements in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois markets.

“We're keeping it more in Iowa,” Wetjen said.

But Wetjen said it's not just gas prices the Amana Colonies tourism marketing efforts are confronting. She said the fragile overall economy is making vacation travelers more value-conscious.

As a result of the tough economy, more destinations appear to be marketing themselves as a good deal.

Adventureland in Des Moines did not raise its prices this year, spokeswoman Molly Vincent said. It's 2011 ad slogan is “two parks - one price,” a reference to the new water park it opened last year.

Iowa may actually benefit from a careful approach to travel spending this year. Airfares are up about 48 percent, according to Lisa Gilliatt, vice president of group and leisure travel for Destinations Unlimited in Cedar Rapids. She said the higher cost of aviation fuel is showing up in fuel surcharges, which can sometimes shock travelers who've booked a cheap lead-in airfare.

Gilliatt doesn't think long-distance travel will suffer much, however.

“Americans work so hard for their vacation that they're going to vacation no matter what the cost of fuel,” Gilliatt said.

The Iowa Tourism Office is promoting Iowa as a “close-by, affordable destination” in a five-week magazine, billboard and TV campaign in Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, said Shawna Lode, tourism office director.

Lode said the timing of the gas price spike this winter came too late for the state to redirect most of its tourism advertising.

The number of visitors in April at 59 major Iowa attractions monitored by the Iowa Tourism Office was up 5.3 percent from April 2010, Lode said, and visitors were up 4 percent in March.

One Iowa attraction is taking a contrarian approach to the travel price conundrum.

For the last two years, Lost Island Water Park in Waterloo has done more advertising outside its core Iowa markets.

“Maybe this was a huge mistake, but the last two years we've tried to spread our influence out a little bit,” General Manager Eric Bertch said. “You have probably seen advertisements for the Wisconsin Dells? We feel we're just as good a facility as they are.”

Bertch said the water park has never seen a very close correlation between attendance and gas prices.

So what gives?

“Our attendance has been affected minimally by the gas prices and much more by what the weather turns out to be,” Bertch said. “Our guess is about as good as the weather forecast.”