Chamber working to attract lots of visitors

More tour groups are expected to be coming into Fort Scott this year, Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce officials said.

FSACC Executive Director Lindsay Madison said she and her staff have been working on scheduling more bus tours and have plenty lined up as tourist season begins. Having laid the groundwork with advertising last year, the chamber is expecting more group tours. Several have already been booked through spring and more calls are expected.

Visitors will come in RVs with plans to camp throughout Fort Scott and others will take a few days to hit the links and take advantage of other activities in town this summer, Madison said.

A camping group is scheduled to visit April 26-29 and plans to view the Gordon Parks Museum and Center, the Lowell Milken Center and take trolley tours of the city.

Madison said the groups range in size and age. Most are day trips, but some groups plan to stay overnight, including a party of 44 that plans to visit in September.

Chamber staff will help groups looking for ideas for spots to visit and activities to partake in. Local groups and organizations may schedule special guests or performances for tours that come through, Madison said.

"We'll help any size group," she said. "A lot of the tours booked are seniors, maybe because they have more time to travel."

Earlier this month, a tour group of 46 seniors from Wichita had a bite at Crooner's Lounge, walked to Fort Scott National Historic Site for a tour and took a guided tour of Fort Scott led by local historian Don Miller. Madison said they had heard about Fort Scott and contacted the chamber to book the tour.

The chamber has been contacted by a man organizing a September home school convention. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people are expected to participate. The convention will involve families with home-schooled youth from all over the country trying to get more familiar with the four-state area, Madison said.

Participants are scheduled to visit Fort Scott over a three-day period -- a different group each day -- to tour the Fort Scott National Historic Site, take in a performance at the Lowell Milken Center and do some sightseeing.

On May 19, a tour group from Independence, Mo., plans to take a trolley tour, eat at Lyons Twin Mansions, take a guided bus tour with Miller and tour Fort Scott National Historic Site. That same day, a tour group of 30-40 people from Wichita is scheduled to visit with local historian Arnold Schofield as their guide.

The tours also continue into late in the year with a group scheduled to travel to Fort Scott to take the Homes for the Holidays tour in December, Madison said.

With each tour group, the chamber offers goody bags that include information on Fort Scott and promotional items. Chamber staff will be making up hundreds of the swag bags for group tours that will visit this year, which can include small promotional or informational items from local businesses.

Tour participants also receive other incentives, such as discount cards to encourage tourists to "shop downtown and see the stores" and everything Fort Scott has to offer, Madison said.

The tours can help boost the local economy, with tourists shopping in local stores, eating at local restaurants and staying in local hotels. Even with tourists who just make day trips, there are benefits, Madison said.

"Even if their schedule is tight and they don't have time to shop, they're seeing Fort Scott," she said. "Maybe they've never seen it before, they might come back another time."