ABSTRACT
In the 1950s few city governments in the United States viewed tourism as contributing to local economic growth. Consequently, tourism did not figure in their economic development policies, rudimentary as they were. The older cities of the north-east and mid-west focused their energies on urban renewal, retention of their manufacturing base, and improving their infrastructure. Faced with growing populations and thriving local economies, cities of the south and west worried mainly about whether public services could keep pace. At midcentury, tourism was simply not a factor in government-led, urban economic development (Law 1994).
