Here's Why the Land Near the Airport has Value Like None Other

  Can I quote from a Steve Winwood song? (I'm going to throw a change-up in for the second line.)
       While you see a chance, take it
       Find a future -- shake it
       Because it's all on you.
   The song swirls in my mind as I read a Deseret News headline: "Utah board game lovers unite at state's biggest gaming convention."
   More money has been made through conventions and tourism than many imagine. If you can expand on your tourism -- and make it good, clean tourism -- you should.
   Now, seems I read in a textbook on how to create tourism that the best trick for starting up a tourism industry is to begin with all the hobbies and games, and interests and pastimes that people have. (Okay, there is no such textbook on how to build tourism, but if there were, perhaps it would say this is the best starting point for sparking a tourism industry.)
   Look no further than Comic Con to see that when there are fans, they come running.
   If someone is a bird-watcher, and somebody organizes a convention so all bird-watchers can gather to share their adventures with each other -- all while watching birds at one of North America's greatest migratory bird flyways . . .
   They might fly all the way across the country to get here.
   Now, what if you made it as affordable, accessible, and easy as possible? Convenience sells, you know. There are a million bird-watchers, but some can't afford a $1000 vacation. You'll maximize your tourism if minimize the hassle and expense.
   Plant your tourism right next to the airport, within walking distance. Yes, save the best land -- the land closest to the airport -- to cater to Monopoly players, and chess players, and high school choirs, and Revolutionary War hobbyists, and . . .
   There are thousands of hobbies, thousands of interests, each with a million people to flock to your city.
   Make it so they can fly in, walk over to their convention, and fly out the very same day. Tourism without luggage, vacation without planning. Just get on a plane, fly in, and fly out. No hotel necessary. You don't even need a taxi. Set up free shuttles for venues that might be a little too far to walk to, but make them, also, as accessible and easy-to-get-to as possible.
   Move your Greyhound station next door. Relocate your Amtrak there. But, consider that your airport -- your international airport -- is the key to making this work. It is why the land next to the airport has value like none other.
   Just what was it that the Steve Winwood song suggested? (The second line being revised.)
       While you see a chance, take it
       Find a future -- Shake it
       Because it's all on you
   It is all on us -- on Salt Lake City and Utah. If we want to do this, we can. If we waste the land, then that's on us, too. The land stretches out west as far as the eye can see. We can shoot out a tourism district just a mile or so, or we can keep on going with museums, and amusement parks and softball fields. We can mix in a global trade hub, if we like, but must remember that whatever land we do use for things other than tourism will be lost from tourism forever. Bringing in the hobbyists can open the door to other types of tourism, just as a spark can lead to a fire.
   But, the industry can only grow if there's room to grow. The size of your dream is only limited by the size of your frontier. So, we might want to keep the frontier as big as we can.