Here are the most important updates this week:
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Registration Open for Next Tourism Insider Meeting
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Registration is now open for the next Tourism Insider Meeting, hosted by Appanoose County Tourism on Wednesday, November 18, in Centerville. Join fellow tourism professionals for a day of updates, engaging panel discussions, and local experiences, including a tour of the newly renovated Majestic Theatre.
Room blocks have been secured at both The Continental Hotel and Westbridge Inn & Suites. Please contact the properties directly and ask for the Tourism Insider Meeting blocks. We hope to see you there!
Register here: Appanoose County Tourism Insider Meeting
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Reserve Your Ad Space with the 2027 Iowa Travel Guide
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People Inc. (formerly Meredith Corporation) is the new publisher of the Iowa Travel Guide, and planning for the 2027 edition is underway. If you missed September's webinar, check out the 2027 Iowa Travel Guide Media Kit for full details on People Inc. and this year's ad options.
Two deadlines to note, both November 13:
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- Reserve your ad space: Complete the insertion order form to lock in your spot.
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Submit your ad creative: All creative must be uploaded to the People Inc. ad portal. Be sure to review the attached ad specs and share them with your designer.
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Iowa Tourism Office Update Webinar — October 22
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Join us for the last Iowa Tourism Office Update Webinar of the year, Thursday, October 22 at 2 p.m. We'll take a deep dive into the 2025 Economic Impact Report, including visitor spending, visitor volume, and county-level data. No pre-registration needed — just click to join at the time of the webinar.
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UK Media/Trade FAM Tour Results
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In August, the Iowa Tourism Office hosted a UK media and trade FAM tour in partnership with Cellet UK — and the results are in!
The Scottish Sun ran a feature on Iowa as a hidden-gem road trip as a double-page Sunday print spread (circulation: 80,000; readership: 240,000), plus an online version reaching the outlet's 5 million monthly visitors.
The Travel Magazine published an Iowa feature on its site (3.2 million monthly visitors) and included it in their weekly newsletter (60,000 recipients).
Discover North America built an entirely new Iowa destination hub, including seven themed sub-pages and four new itineraries: Iowa's Heartland Highlights, The Great River Road: From Minneapolis to Memphis, Discover Iowa: From the Heartland to the Mississippi, and Cities, Culture & the Heart of Iowa. They also produced a 16-page Iowa digital brochure with QR codes linking readers straight to the new content.
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Iowa's International Arrivals Surge in 2025
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The number of overseas visitors to Iowa grew 17.9% in 2025, compared with 2024. The National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO)’s U.S. States and Cities Visited Monitor provides data on overseas visitation across U.S. states, territories and cities. The updated report showed that Iowa welcomed 79,000 overseas visitors last year (this excludes visitors from Canada and Mexico as those are reported separately). This growth significantly outpaced national trends, as international arrivals to the United States declined 5.5% during the same period.
Earlier this year, the NTTO released state-level estimates of the economic impact of overseas visitors for the first time since 1997. In 2024, Iowa welcomed an estimated 66,000 international visitors, generating $456 million in visitor spending. A key international strategy is promoting Iowa's accessibility from major gateway cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis and encouraging travelers to extend their Midwest itineraries with a visit to Iowa. In 2024, Illinois saw 1.41 million international visitors, generating $5.7 billion in spending while Minnesota’s 233,000 overseas visitors generated $1.1 billion in spending. Read more about the report here.
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Explore Siouxland Video Co-Op Shoot
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A recent video co-op shoot in Sioux City captured some of the city's standout spots, from the mountain bike trails at Cone Park to fresh-roasted coffee at Council Oak Coffee Supply, the newly opened Sioux City Distillery, the vibrant murals of the Art Alley, and a scenic finish at Broken Kettle Grassland. Videographer Seth Howard of Sizzle Media spent the day on location capturing the footage.
A big thank-you to Denise Chaudhari and Stacie Anderson of Explore Siouxland for coordinating such a successful day of content capture.
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Helping partners create and strengthen outdoor recreation opportunities is important but don’t forget to support and build business capacity at the same time so you are maximizing the economic benefits of those resources.
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Iowa’s Water Recreation Access Cost-Share Program (WRAC) is due by midnight September 30, 2026 for political subdivisions. It is available for construction or improvement of boat access facilities to Iowa's lakes and streams, such as boat ramps, loading/off-loading docks and other structures to enhance use. It typically has a 75:25 state/local cost share ratio but in some instances will pay up to 100% of the project.
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The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Program grant typically opens December 1st and closes at the beginning of March. It provides 50% cost share for cities and counties to secure land and develop outdoor recreation projects such as tennis courts, skate parks, playgrounds, new and renovated swimming pools, campgrounds and multipurpose trails.
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USDA’s Rural Development Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan program provides loan guarantees to commercial lenders so they can provide loans to eligible rural businesses. They can be used to help with business conversion, enlargement, repair, modernization, or development. Businesses can also borrow funds to purchase and develop land, buildings and associated infrastructure for commercial or industrial properties, or pay for machinery and equipment, supplies or inventory. It can even be used for debt refinancing to improve cash flow and create jobs. unordered list
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Iowa Tourism Office
1963 Bell Avenue, Ste 200 | Des Moines, IA 50315 US
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1963 Bell Avenue, Suite 200 | Des Moines, IA 50315 US
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