Goin on tour.

Ever since I saw the New Mexico Alien tourist thing, tourism campaigns came out of nowhere. Got hit today in Minneapolis with campaigns for Wisconsin: “We’re more than cheese, fireworks and large plastic animals,” Idaho: “We’re here somewhere,” Colorado: “We have more sayings than your state” or South Dakota: “We’re more than just rock formations.” It’s summer, so, yeah, I know I should expect the onslaught.

The challenge for most sites is to promote the state as a whole as tourist destination. For some, the challenge is to do that without being upstaged by any one major city, such as Nevada is with Las Vegas. Yet another challenge is overcoming popular campaigns engrained in the public consciousness: “I Love NY” or “Virginia Is For Lovers” kind of ruin it for any subsequent campaigns in those respective states. (And “What happens here, stays here” is as good as any line for a state, let alone a city.)

So with too much free time on my hands, I put together a list of state tourism sites. Does Hawaii even need a tourism board? I’m sure not going for the bowling. Oregon? Actually, pretty cool with the only visitor’s blog I’ve seen, while Alabama’s focus on art is interesting.)

Now most sites don’t go as far as New Mexico in creating an alien-themed campaign. When they do however, it’s not always that easy to get to the respective main tourism website or vice versa. And, many states separate the concept of travel from tourism and make it harder to find info in either category. From a usability standpoint, why split the two up?

Don’t forget about the amazing call to actions such as: “Visit...,” “Explore...,” “A great place to...,” “Find yourself in....” and my personal No.1 from PA: “Get your Spring on.” There are also a couple of sites that could use some design and functionality upgrades. (Email me and my gang, we can help.)

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

state tourism