What brings tourists to Kansas?

A recent story about the success of Harrah’s Casino north of Topeka noted that the tribal casino, with 1.4 million visitors a year, no longer is the state’s biggest tourist attraction; that honor now belongs to Cabela’s, the outdoor store in Wyandotte County.

So this is what the state has to offer to visitors? Come to Kansas to play slot machines and buy sporting goods?

No wonder some officials think we need to look at a new approach.

Gambling is a choice. The income is good for the Indian tribes that operate the casinos. Some adults get a kick out of feeding slot machines or playing casino games, but it’s hardly family entertainment.

There’s nothing wrong with Cabela’s. It’s a great store and apparently qualifies as a tourist attraction because it includes special features like the Mule Deer Museum. According to the Wyandotte County tourism people, the store attracted 2.4 million people, more than half from more than 200 miles away, in the first five months after it opened in August 2002.

The Kansas Speedway is the state’s No. 3 attraction, according to the Wyandotte County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Nebraska Furniture Mart estimates that 3 million people a year come through its doors, but it apparently doesn’t qualify as a tourist attraction because it is a straight retail outlet.

The Kansas Department of Commerce Web site lists the state’s top visitor attractions for 2003, based on figures reported through July 2004. Officials urge caution in how the figures are interpreted for a number of reasons. The numbers are self-reported by the attractions themselves (not everyone reports), and judging how many of the visitors are tourists and how many are local residents is a tricky business. But the list nonetheless, is interesting.

Neither Cabela’s nor the Kansas Speedway are listed, so the only million-visitor attraction listed other than Harrah’s is El Dorado State Park. In fact, six of the top eight attractions on the list are state parks located at federal reservoirs in the state: Cheney, Clinton, Hillsdale, Milford and Tuttle Creek. This probably indicates something about the potential of outdoor recreation as a tourism attraction in the state, but a high percentage of the lake visitors probably come from a relatively short distance. And the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks reported this week that cool weather apparently is to blame for visitor totals that are falling below estimated this year.

The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library drew 913,000 visitors in 2003. Although the library has been held up as an example for Lawrence to emulate, it seems unlikely many people drive great distances to visit it. The Kansas State Fairgrounds and the Sedgwick County Zoo both list about a half-million visitors, but again those attractions are of seasonal and/or regional interest.

How about the Eisenhower Center in Abilene presumably one of the state’s biggest draws? Surprisingly, it recorded a relatively paltry 87,000 visitors.

Maybe these figures don’t give an accurate picture of what attracts people to Kansas. Maybe Kansas should just accept that it probably never will be a major tourist destination. One thing is for sure, if the state’s top two attractions really are a casino and a sporting goods store, the Kansas tourism people have their work cut out for them.