Moab, Utah scores a 99 Visitor Impact Score. How a uranium boomtown on the Colorado River reinvented itself into the front door of two national parks and the spiritual home of mountain biking.
Wisconsin’s smallest city, just 584 people, is the mainland gateway to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore: Lake Superior sea caves, the largest lighthouse collection in the national park system, and an apple-and-berry coast that draws a quarter million visitors a year. VIS 97, Destination Leader.
Lompoc, California lost the flower-seed industry that made it famous and replaced it with four assets it alone can own: a fully rebuilt mission, a downtown of murals, the Lompoc Wine Ghetto, and front-row rocket launches. Visitor Impact Score 63, Emerging.
A town of 846 people stands at the foot of the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere and guards 310 years of Great Lakes history. Mackinaw City scores a Visitor Impact Score of 82, On the Map, with its biggest opportunity in dwell time.
Thomasville, Georgia scores a Visitor Impact Score of 94 (Destination Leader). How a faded Gilded-Age winter resort manufactured a permanent identity with roses, a 340-year-old oak, and a walkable downtown that draws $86.8M a year.
Galena, Illinois scores 96 (Destination Leader) on the Visitor Impact Score. How a busted lead-rush boomtown turned six blocks of preserved 19th-century brick into one of the Midwest’s most-visited Main Streets, drawing ~1M visitors a year.
Farmington, NM scores a Visitor Impact Score of 60 (Emerging). A Top-10 trout river, a UNESCO World Heritage ruin, sacred Shiprock, and a 45,000-acre badland make it the Four Corners basecamp, if it owns the story.
Blowing Rock, NC scored 92 (Destination Leader) by Creative City Developments. How a village of 1,376 on the Blue Ridge built North Carolinas first tourist economy, and the opportunity to convert Parkway traffic into overnight stays.