Letter on tourism

 Letter to the Editor of the Carbondale Times that ran in the Nov. 20th issue

Carbondale attracts a surprising  number of tourists which I found surprising given the city is not a particularly attractive tourist destination on its own. The only particularly photogenic parts of town are the SIUC campus and the north and west sides of the Town Square. What Carbondale does have and what brings tourists to town, besides SIUC and SIH, is access to over 450 square miles of outdoors and outdoor activities. Nearly every weekend, I speak with people staying in Carbondale, in one of our hotels or B&Bs, who are using the city for a home base while they visit Giant City State Park, the River to River Trail or the Shawnee Wine Trail and who are looking for other activities and places to visit. Unfortunately, with the closure of the Carbondale Tourism office, there is no place to direct them for information. Both the Civic Center and Carbondale Main Street office have knowledgeable people and information but they are not always available . I hope the city greatly expands the information kiosk in the new multi modal facility, perhaps adding some form of self guided screen to help direct visitors to places to eat and visit in Carbondale and the surrounding environs.