Why No Travel Books?
Yesterday afternoon I was out at Chermside shopping centre. I went into Borders and whilst perusing their vast array of books, I thought I'd check out the Tourism section. Of course, as you would expect, their were a number of travel books on Australia, and on Queensland and the Barrier Reef. There was even a whole shelf devoted to Sydney. The thing that struck me, however, was that there wasn't one title on Brisbane. Not one.
Now, I'm not sure if that's the case in all of the book stores around town. Hell, even on Amazon I can find a few outdated travel guides, and they even sell the Gregory's Refedex if you want a street directory. The thing that really gets my goat is that no one is really promoting Brisbane. We seem to be an afterthought in the guides which say come to Queensland and go to the Barrier Reef, or head to Surfer's. Or go to Noosa! Surely we're a big enough country town to have titles in our own right?! Aren't we!
There is a hell of a lot of good stuff to offer. If you want to eat, you've now got some of the best restaurants around, in places like West End, Eagle Street and Caxton Street. You've got great shopping in and around the Queen Street Mall, along with retail meccas at Chermside, Carindale and Indooroopilly. You have all the sport you could want with AFL, Rugby and Cricket. You have parklands a plenty, like South Bank and Roma Street. You have a whole cultural precinct at South Bank to satisfy even the most artsy fartsy of people!
Bands and artists which in the past would have shunned Brisbane, now regularly visit. There's a whole new live music scene which is proving a rich vein of talent internationally. We have the Ekka and Riverfire. Our weather is awesome, and the people are some of the most beautiful and laid back that you'd find anywhere on the planet.
Ok, so I'm ranting now, but I still think we should have more of our promotion going on in bookstores. Then again, who reads books anymore when you've got the Net! Lets just make sure we continue to promote what a fantastic place we live in is.
Cheers, Wes.
Now, I'm not sure if that's the case in all of the book stores around town. Hell, even on Amazon I can find a few outdated travel guides, and they even sell the Gregory's Refedex if you want a street directory. The thing that really gets my goat is that no one is really promoting Brisbane. We seem to be an afterthought in the guides which say come to Queensland and go to the Barrier Reef, or head to Surfer's. Or go to Noosa! Surely we're a big enough country town to have titles in our own right?! Aren't we!
There is a hell of a lot of good stuff to offer. If you want to eat, you've now got some of the best restaurants around, in places like West End, Eagle Street and Caxton Street. You've got great shopping in and around the Queen Street Mall, along with retail meccas at Chermside, Carindale and Indooroopilly. You have all the sport you could want with AFL, Rugby and Cricket. You have parklands a plenty, like South Bank and Roma Street. You have a whole cultural precinct at South Bank to satisfy even the most artsy fartsy of people!
Bands and artists which in the past would have shunned Brisbane, now regularly visit. There's a whole new live music scene which is proving a rich vein of talent internationally. We have the Ekka and Riverfire. Our weather is awesome, and the people are some of the most beautiful and laid back that you'd find anywhere on the planet.
Ok, so I'm ranting now, but I still think we should have more of our promotion going on in bookstores. Then again, who reads books anymore when you've got the Net! Lets just make sure we continue to promote what a fantastic place we live in is.
Cheers, Wes.
Labels: Brisbane Tourism Travel
