There’s always something new in tourism and the latest may make you want to smell the flowers. It’s garden tourism.
“Garden tourism has blossomed as an attractive niche for cities, not only as a way to spruce up their collective curb appeal but to generate green for hotels, restaurants and shops,” says the AP.
Around the country, there are as many events to pick from as a field of wildflowers.
In Buffalo, it’s an annual Garden Festival. In North Carolina, it’s an Azalea Festival.
There are about 3,000 garden-centered events and festivals in the United States yearly, according to Richard Benfield, author of the upcoming book "Garden Tourism."
Earth-friendly garden tourism to be one of the country’s fastest growing areas of leisure and recreation, he said.
It appeals not only to an older crowd but also to younger homeowners in search of landscaping inspiration and to anyone in search of a simple breath of fresh air.
By David Wilkening
