Growth of Tourism in United States

California offers amazing year-round opportunities for tourists: swimming, skiing, hunting, fishing, and mountain climbing, as well as magnificent scenery--mountains, deserts, valleys, and seacoast--a photographer's delight. There are Balboa Park and its famous zoo in San Diego; Knott's Berry Farm, Marineland, and Disneyland; Death Valley and Yosemite and Lassen Volcanic national parks. There are also Imperial Valley, Coachella Valley, and the Salton Sea; the redwoods; and the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco.

The Rocky Mountains region is an all-year wonderland for tourists. The scenery is often breathtaking. Sightseeing, hunting, fishing, and mountain climbing are popular activities in summer. Skiing at Sun Valley, Idaho, in the Sawtooth Range, created the first American winter resort. New resorts quickly followed at Jackson Hole, Wyo., and throughout Colorado's Rockies in such towns as Vail, Aspen, and Steamboat Springs.

Like the Rocky Mountains, the Western Basins and Plateaus offer much for the tourist. Indian communities have developed their own hotel facilities and guides. The annual Inter-Tribal Ceremonial at Gallup, N.M., involves some 30 Indian groups. Santa Fe and Taos, N.M., are popular resorts.

Arizona offers old mining communities at Globe-Miami, Ajo, and Bisbee. Phoenix and Tucson lead travelers to the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion national parks are unforgettable experiences.

Las Vegas and Reno are famous for legal gambling. Hoover Dam on the Colorado River is near Las Vegas. Salt Lake City and Great Salt Lake are also prime tourist attractions. Farther north the lava outcrops on the Colorado Plateau, Grand Coulee Dam, and Hanford, Wash., the atomic-energy city, attract visitors.

Americans love to run to the sun during the winter months. The Florida peninsula, Mississippi Riviera, and New Orleans are primary tourist attractions, with hotels, motels, restaurants, natural and artificial beaches, and Orlando's Walt Disney World, bringing in billions of dollars.

Henry M. Flagler saw the opportunities early. In 1885 he built the Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine, Fla. In 1891 his rival, Henry B. Plant, built the Tampa Bay Hotel on the Gulf coast. Before long wealthy Northern sun worshippers were going to the South by train--to St. Augustine, Palm Beach (where Flagler built the Breakers), and ultimately Key West (1912).

By the 1920s there was a land boom in Florida. Many speculators bought and sold lots, and there were new tourists to make purchases. Not until 1926 did the bubble burst. Following the lean tourist years of the Great Depression and World War II, a new land boom ensued with a new tourist boom. Miami became a major tourist attraction. Sun worshipers now traveled to Florida--and to other points in the region--by plane, auto, truck, and train. In 1982 tourists spent more than 21 billion dollars in Florida.

The sun and other attractions also drew a permanent and growing population to the peninsula. In 1950 Florida's population was 2.8 million; by 1960 it was 4.9 million, the highest increase over the decade for any state in the nation. And there was no abatement--by 1990 the population had swelled to more than 13 million and Florida had become the 4th largest state.

The Southern Rockies offer a number of notable attractions: Rocky Mountain National Park, Garden of the Gods, Mountain of the Holy Cross, and the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River--all in Colorado. The Central Rockies has the oldest of the national Parks--Yellowstone, with its volcanic peaks, hot springs, geysers, petrified forests, and Yellowstone Lake and Yellowstone Falls. In the Northern Rockies is the equally delightful Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.