CVB offers $40 gift cards to Springfield visitors

The “We’ll Buy Your Gas” campaign, in partnership with Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium and 34 Springfield hotels, offers $40 Visa gift cards to travelers who visit Springfield before Dec. 31.

Travelers must stay at least two nights in one of the participating hotels and buy at least two tickets to Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium. A validation form, available at www.vacationspringfield.com, must be stamped at Bass Pro Shops and sent with hotel and museum receipts to the CVB to receive the gift card.

The CVB has been promoting the campaign through newspaper, television and radio advertising in St. Louis, Kansas City, Little Rock, Ark., Fayetteville, Ark., Tulsa, Okla., and Wichita, Kan.

The campaign began March 20 and, in its first month, drew 75,000 visitors to the validation form Web site and CVB’s Web site, representing a 30 percent increase from the same period last year.

CVB Executive Director Tracy Kimberlin said he doesn’t expect the rising cost of gas to hit travel to Springfield too hard, as gas is a small part of a vacation’s overall cost.

“On the other hand, increasing gas prices do affect one’s budget, as people have to buy gas for reasons other than going on vacation, and the price of oil does affect other prices consumers have to pay,” Kimberlin said in a news release. “I am more concerned about the impact of gas prices on the economy in general, not just travel.”