The Civil War brought hard times to Georgia, with Union troops torching Atlanta and cutting a swath of destruction through the state before delivering Savannah to President Abraham Lincoln as an early Christmas gift on Dec. 22, 1864. Nearly a century and a half later, state leaders are hoping Georgia's role in the epic conflict will have a much different impact -- drawing in millions of tourism dollars by promoting its Civil War-era sites.You see, it's not about them, those local Georgian civilians of yore, nor Georgian soldiers, nor occupying "foreign troops." Nor is it about today's Georgians relating their own history. No, it's about you, big spender. Come on and spend a little time (and money) down here while you get your weirdo kicks tromping around pre-development land parcels.
I like this part:
... so-called heritage tourists "spend an average of 30 percent more per trip than average travelers, and we want them to come to Georgia."On the other hand,
"Part of what we need to do is reach beyond just the Civil War buffs -- to be able to tell the story in a compelling way to a much broader audience and get them interested," he saidSo, getting them interested will cause them to spend 30% more than uninterested tourists?
This Georgia "Civil War" effort is going to be multipurposed into utter meaninglessness while the state government insults its one true market for heritage tourism.
(You've seen it before, I know but the papers keep picking up this old AP wire story and I keep on reading it and being offended.)
