Howard Greninger
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
The new $5.5 million Terre Haute Children’s Museum will literally be “on the map” as it is to be featured in a color cover photograph of the Indiana Office of Tourism Development’s 2011 Travel Map publication.
The state office was in the museum Monday for a two-hour morning and two-hour afternoon photo session, featuring more than a dozen children of various ages, highlighting the museum’s centerpiece — a large treehouse.
“We were very excited with the color that we saw… and showcasing so much fun for children. We know that families traveling with children are the majority of Indiana’s visitor market, so we thought this would be a great attraction to showcase,” Amy E. Vaughan, director of the Office of Tourism Development, said during a morning photo shoot at the museum.
“We want to look at what are the new attractions, as people don’t always want to go to the same thing year after year. It is important to show people what is new and different,” Vaughan said.
The office will produce 500,000 copies of the map showcasing the Terre Haute Children’s Museum for distribution next year.
A state tourism map and a state tourism guide are the two main publications distributed to people requesting information at www.visitindiana.com. The travel guide will feature a cover photograph of a new minor league baseball stadium in Fort Wayne.
Vaughan said 62 million people visit Indiana annually, spending $10 billion. Of those, 37 percent are travelers from Indiana, with the remainder from nearby states of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky.
A visitor is classified as anyone who has traveled 50 miles or more to a destination, Vaughan said.
“In the last couple of years, people have tended to stay closer to home as they travel. As a result, Indiana attractions have fared pretty well during these tough economic times,” Vaughan said.
Summer is the biggest tourism season for the state, with fall and spring tied for second, Vaughan said.
Lynn Hughes, executive director of the Terre Haute Children’s Museum, said the tourism travel map “offers a wonderful opportunity for us to share the news about this new museum with the rest of the state and anyone who visits here.”
Hughes the museum “is a hot topic now locally, so to have this [travel map] come out next year is really a great thing for us. When the excitement about the newness of this place has died down a little bit, to be able to draw some new crowds to the facility will really be great for us.”
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
