Cowboys, Indians, and Starbucks

Long ago, during the 1950s, vacationers came to western cities like Denver, Phoenix, Cheyenne, Dallas, and Albuquerque to get a feel for the West--the real West. These tourists didn't want to see skyscrapers and modern buildings. They wanted swinging saloon doors and wooden sidewalks. And many of these tourists found just that.

Oh, how times have changed. Western cities today look just like any other city, and convention and visitors' bureaus in those cities don't even really promote the area's western heritage. Considering heritage tourism is hot right now, you'd think that there would be a few more swinging saloon doors in Denver and Phoenix.

But today's tourist is also much more sophisticated. The global mass media have educated them, and the nostalgia of the Old West doesn't have the same cache it did in the 1950s (although this may be changing--look at the popularity of "Deadwood" on HBO and a slew of recent western movies). Although visitors today still want to hear about Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Buffalo Bill, they want to do it while sipping a latte and checking their email at a cybercafe.

This poses a challenge to cities and historic districts trying to market themselves to an increasingly savvy consumer. These areas must walk the fine line of promoting themselves as "authentically" historic, while also advertising their high-tech amenities and trendy businesses. This has always been a problem for cities in the West, however. Travelers to the 19th-century West came to find the wilderness and have adventure, but they also wanted to be able to have a bath and a warm meal when the adventure was through. It was this impulse to bring conveniences to the West that helped to "tame" it. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

So where does that leave marketers for western cities today? Finding the same delicate balance that they have had to find for over a century. Marketing a mixture of old and new.