LINCOLN, NEB. (March 10, 2009)-The Nebraska Department of Economic Development's Travel and Tourism Division is updating its Nebraska Tourism Industry Development Plan and will be gathering input during two rounds of meetings, the first ones to be held between April 21 and October 28. All meetings are open to the public and no RSVP is required.

Plan objectives are:

Inventory existing tourism development projects across Nebraska
Identify new and potential tourism development projects
Recommend tourism projects, regionally and statewide, that will help attract a greater number of travelers to the state
Provide Nebraska's tourism industry with a comprehensive document that will identify current tourism trends and development resources, along with recommendations for tourism development in the state

During the first go-around, attendees will review the 2004 plan to determine which public and industry recommendations have been completed; which should be deleted or retained in the 2010 plan; and to identify new and potential tourism development projects.

The first round of public meetings will be held as follows (all Central Standard Time unless otherwise indicated):

April 21, 10 a.m.-Noon, MST-Chadron, Best Western Hotel, 1100 W. 10th St.
April 22, 10 a.m.-Noon, MST-Gering, Gering Civic Center, 1050 M St.
May 27, 2-4 p.m.-McCook, TBA
May 28, 10 a.m.-Noon-North Platte, TBA
June 9, 10 a.m.-Noon-Valentine, TBA
June 10, 10 a.m.-Noon-Broken Bow, TBA
July 21, 1-3 p.m.-Hastings, TBA
July 22, 1-3 p.m.-Kearney, TBA
August 13, 1-3 p.m.-South Sioux City, TBA
August 14, 1-3 p.m.-Columbus, TBA
September 24, 1-3 p.m.-York, TBA
September 25, 1-3 p.m.-Nebraska City, TBA
October 27, 1-3 p.m.-Omaha, TBA
October 28, 1-3 p.m.-Lincoln, TBA

A second round of meetings will be announced at a later date.

To access a copy of the 2004 Nebraska Tourism Industry Development Plan, go to: http://industry.visitnebraska.org/DevelopmentPlan/

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Micheal Collins at 800-228-4307, 402-471-3795 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it