At last count, Polk County took in more than 20 cents out of every dollar tourists spent in the state, and the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau expects that number to climb as more people plan to stay closer to home this vacation season.

Greg Edwards, the bureau’s president and CEO, said national trends and studies indicate that although people want to take vacations to spend time with their families, they’re increasingly taking shorter trips within about 3 1/2 hours of home instead of long trips during the summer.

“The national research right now is that people are going to travel, but they might not travel as far,” Edwards said. “I think we can take advantage of this situation.”

Higher gasoline prices may be part of the reason families are planning shorter vacations, according to Nancy Landess, the manager of the Iowa Tourism Office, along with busy schedules.

“People can’t carve out a lot of time around work and their kids’ schedules, but they still want to get away,” she said. “What’s great about Des Moines is there is so much diversity of attractions, with its historic landmarks, sports and unique places like Living History Farms.”

Edwards said he sees evidence all the time that people are taking more notice of Des Moines as a place to come to spend a few days.

“Just the other day at the Drake Relays Beautiful Bulldog Contest, I ran into this couple from Illinois that were Drake alums from 1974 who hadn’t been back here since graduation,” he said. “They booked a hotel room out by Jordan Creek (Town Center), and they told me what a beautiful mall we had, and how they couldn’t believe the growth of downtown Des Moines. They said they were definitely coming back here to visit.”

The CVB is working on a couple of advertising projects to attract more visitors to Des Moines, Edwards said. This month, the organization will launch an extensive radio and TV campaign in Eastern Iowa promoting the city. The advertisements will focus on Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, Adventureland Park and the Science Center of Iowa, but also touch on other local attractions such as the Iowa State Fair, the Iowa Cubs and Living History Farms. In July, the campaign will shift to Western Iowa and Omaha. Edwards said this approach has been used successfully for a couple of years.

Edwards said Prairie Meadows, Adventureland and the Science Center are paying part of the cost of the ads, with the CVB covering the larger share. His organization also plans to launch a print advertising program in statewide newspapers in Iowa and Nebraska to allow businesses and attractions with smaller budgets the opportunity to market themselves alongside other local businesses.

Sally Dix, vice president of communications for the Science Center, says the museum staff can tell from the ZIP code information collected during ticket sales that it is drawing visitors from outside Greater Des Moines, but that data has not yet been compiled to show trends.

“We are very aware that we could help draw tourists to Des Moines, so we try to maximize our opportunities to promote ourselves whenever we can,” Dix said.

The SCI ran newspaper advertisements during the state high school basketball and wrestling tournaments this spring to try to attract out-of-town visitors, and Dix said she recently started working with the Iowa Cubs to discuss cross-promotional opportunities during the boys’ state baseball tournament in July.

“Rising tides raise all ships,” Dix said. “We’re happy to be one of the many things for people to do while they’re here.”