By:
Kylen Mills
Kmills@cbs4qc.com
Back
in December the Mississippi Valley Welcome
Center sold, and now Scott County
officials are trying to decide what to do with the money.
The Quad
Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau proposes that the funds be used for
tourism initiatives.
One of
the ideas floating around is informational kiosks around the Quad Cities,
as well as information centers at local festivals.
The
welcome center sold for over half a million dollars. Joe Taylor with the QCCVB
says other towns invest money in tourism, and that the QCA needs to do the
same.
"We
have to keep up with the competition. Other communities are investing thousands
if not millions of dollars in tourism, and so to stay ahead of the game we've
got to do the same thing too," said Taylor.
Taylor also
says more tourism can only help the local economy, and the key is getting
visitors to stay longer.
"We
want visitors to spend as much time here as they can and to encourage them and
to give them that information and those opportunities where they can't leave as
early as they thought they could."
Scott County does not have to spend the
money on tourism; they could also keep it for their general funds. A decision
could be made as early as Tuesday.
