Palm Springs The New Era - Is it time to turn the page from the golden days of Hollywood to the 21st Century?

Palm Springs The New Era - Is it time to turn the page from the golden days of Hollywood to the 21st Century?

Is our tourist demographic changing? Maybe we should have two market segments now. One for the retiring baby boomers and the other for the young newcomers who are showing up more and more.

Now don't go getting all crazy on me with this question about Palm Springs The New Era. The mere thought of turning away from our Hollywood roots will raise the blood pressure of a few people I know. The purpose of this article is to merely open a discussion.

Is it appropriate to rethink who we are as a community, who we will market ourselves to and in what direction are we bound as a tourist city? As a tourist town goes, who will we market ourselves to during the 21st century? With the advent of a new and revitalized downtown, will the senior baby boomers flock from all over SoCal in droves to shop and dine in the new district? Or will the younger cadre who frequent the likes of Coachella, The White Party, Stage Coach, The Dinah and so on be the ones? Are we aware of the likes that will keep them coming to town? Let's pose a few more questions:

• Who are we hoping to attract here in the future? With the popularity of The Ace Hotel, The Saguaro, Coachella, Stage Coach and similar events- is our demographic changing meaning we need to learn how to appeal to a very broad spectrum? Will the younger generation know about some of the old guard of Hollywood and more over, will they even care?

Ask a young visitor about any of the former Hollywood legends. Do they know who they are and more over, does it matter they were once here? Who's that? yeah I heard of them but don't know anything about them and so on.

• Who are we attracting right now? We know we attract a lot of baby boomers and people who are retiring. More recently, they are buying the homes in droves to secure their place in the sun but know that we see lots of the younger generation. So what do we have to offer these people? [caption id="attachment_6172" align="alignright" width="300"] Thanks to Larry Fulton @ http://www.postcardjourney.com[/caption]

What do we have to offer to a younger generation?

• Coachella, Stagecoach, White Party and the Film Festivals
• Hotels like the Saguaro, The Ace, and a few more that offer great surroundings and pool areas.
• Sport- hiking, biking, walking, tennis, golf, and anything else one can do outside.
• Superb food. Our food choices are growing every year and more are on the way
• Retail- new retail plan will make downtown a first class shopping experience. Tie that up to El Paseo and the outlet malls and we have it all.
• Oh yes, the film festivals- for every type of film buff that exists. Short films, film noire, gay films and of course, the Palm Springs International Film Festival- the daddy of them all.
• Just kicking back and doing the big exhale- we are the best place to escape the hustle of LA and San Diego.

So where do we go from here? Well I'd say that opening up a dialogue is the way to go forward. This could be happening already, I don't know but if it is, I'd like to take part and you should too. Anyone who has an interest in the future of this great city can please chime in here and let's begin a discussion.

Palm Springs The New Era is upon us and it will bring many new things. As a city with its arms forever open, I know we can welcome all comers and we need to keep them coming back. This?   Or  This?