New Arkansas Travel Magazine Premieres on World Wide Web
April 2001

The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism has created an on-line travel magazine - arkansastravel.com - to promote the state's tourism resources. The magazine is a companion web site to the state's primary tourism site at www.arkansas.com.

State Tourism Director Joe David Rice said the magazine represents a new tool for marketing the state's attractions to potential travelers.

"What we've done," Rice said, "is taken existing resources - the work of the division's writers and photographers - and created a new publication with a built-in advantage: it is available to the public without the department incurring mailing costs."

"We will continue to distribute to the media press releases and photographs as we have in the past," he said, "but now that work will also be available directly to the traveling public on the world wide web in an attractive and user-friendly format."

Most content in the magazine will have been furnished to the news media prior to its appearance in arkansastravel.com, Rice said. "We greatly appreciate the willingness of newspapers, other publications and the electronic media to help us get the news out about the many opportunities Arkansas offers travelers, but we also want to be able to reach people whose local media, especially out of  state,  haven't been able to use our press releases and photographs."

The magazine includes an easy-to-use feature enabling readers to e-mail articles to friends. "We hope," Rice said, "that this will encourage Arkansans and others to invite friends to join them for an Arkansas outing, as well as provide a means for sharing interesting stories about the state."

The magazine's first issue, which premiered on March 18, contains cover stories on Arkansas' trout fishing and water-powered mills, the Fort Smith National Historic Site, El Dorado's downtown revival, an artist's new plaza in Pine Bluff and the restoration of the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs.

Other feature stories appear in magazine sections entitled "Destinations," "Along for the Ride," and "Featured Parks." Included in those sections in the premiere issue are stories on the Crowley's Ridge National Scenic Byway, the "wild cave tour" at Blanchard Springs Caverns, antiquing in Arkansas, a new state park atop Mount Magazine and Old Washington Historic State Park near Hope.

While new issues will be published every other month, the magazine's "Featured Events" and "Calendar of Events" sections will be updated more frequently.

Rice noted that arkansastravel.com also contains a photo gallery and brief articles recommending good locations for Arkansas photography. "The magazine offers an excellent avenue for marketing the state as a photography destination for both professionals and amateurs," he said.

The magazine's web address is www.arkansastravel.com

For more information, phone (501) 682-7602 or e-mail info@arkansas.com.

This release, along with others by the Department of Parks & Tourism, is available electronically through the Arkansas Press Association Bulletin Board: apa@lr.cleaf.com (in-state only) and the Department’s Web site: www.arkansas.com under media information.

Submitted by the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism
One Capitol Mall, Little Rock, AR  72201, 501-682-7606
E-Mail:  info@arkansas.com