It appears the tourist season is off to a good start. State Tourism Director John Robinson is quick to point out the numbers haven’t come in yet, but what he saw this weekend in trips to family gatherings in Hannibal and at the Lake of the Ozarks indicates the crowds were big and the business brisk. He says it doesn’t appear high gas prices have hurt. Robinson says tourism has changed drastically since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, with people staying closer to home and shortening the time-frame by which they decide where to go. And, even as the state keeps advertising for tourists this summer, it has begun trying to lure people to the state this fall. Robinson likes to quote Mark Twain who said if you want to see Missouri at its most beautiful, visit it in the fall.
