A tourism region is a geographical region that has been designated by a governmental organization or tourism bureau as having common cultural or environmental characteristics. These regions are often named after historical or current administrative and geographical regions. Others have names created specifically for tourism purposes. The names often evoke certain positive qualities of the area and suggest a coherent tourism experience to visitors. Countries , states , provinces , and other administrative regions are often carved up into tourism regions. In addition to drawing the attention of potential tourists, these tourism regions often provide tourists who are otherwise unfamiliar with an area with a manageable number of attractive options.
61-680: Midwest City is a city in Oklahoma County , Oklahoma , United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area . As of the 2020 census , the population was 58,409, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The city was developed in response to talk of an air field being located nearby and named for the Tinker Air Force Base 's original designation as the Midwest Air Depot. The city suffered damage during two tornadoes,
122-622: A violent tornado that swept through the southern and eastern areas of the Oklahoma City Metro on May 3, 1999. While it produced F5 damage in South Oklahoma City, damage in Midwest City was rated high-end F4 (although F5 was considered), with numerous destroyed homes and three fatalities. Another strong tornado struck almost exactly the same area four years later on May 8, 2003 . City officials worked to revitalize S.E. 29th Street in
183-628: A Democrat in the county since LBJ. In 2024, Trump won the county, but again by a narrow plurality. However, his margin of victory was slightly larger than in 2020. School districts include: K-12: Elementary only: 35°29′N 97°32′W / 35.48°N 97.53°W / 35.48; -97.53 Tourism region Some of the more famous tourism regions based on historical or current administrative regions include Tuscany in Italy and Yucatán in Mexico. Famous examples of regions created by
244-409: A Democratic House candidate, thereby changing parties. Horn would carry the county again in her 2022 Senate run , becoming the first Democratic Senatorial candidate to carry the county since David Boren 's 1990 landslide . In the 2020 United States Presidential election , Republican Donald Trump narrowly carried the county (1% margin), down from 10 points in 2016. It was also the best showing for
305-588: A government or tourism bureau include the United Kingdom's Lake District and California's Wine Country in the United States. Tourism scholar Jaarko Saarinen has identified a " discourse of region" in which a region's social and geographical qualities are combined with familiar and traditional representations of the region. The resulting discourse is "produced and reproduced" in the form of advertisements, travelogues , and regional literature, as well as in
366-665: A high school and two grade schools that were precursors to the Sooner and Soldier Creek elementary schools. Other parts of Midwest City are in Choctaw/Nicoma Park Schools , Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS), and Crutcho Public School . Zoned schools of the OKCPS part include Willow Brook Elementary School (PreKindergarten-Grade 1), Spencer Elementary School (grades 2-4), Rogers Intermediate School (grades 5-6), and Star Spencer Mid-High School . Outdoor air museum, on both sides of
427-460: A household in the city was $ 44,578, and the median income for a family was $ 54,348. Males had a median income of $ 40,275 versus $ 32,098 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 23,264. About 12.4% of families and 16.0% of the population were below the poverty line , including 24.6% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over. Midwest City's economic base is heavily dependent upon Federal tax dollars via Tinker Air Force Base ,
488-449: A page in the great book of shining national glories from which each one of us could learn to be proud of being Italian". In the United States, "regional diversity" gave strength to a national whole in the United States' tourist guidebooks produced by the New Deal's Federal Writers' Project . As Andrew Gross argued, the guidebooks "transform[ed] local culture into a tourist attraction, and
549-554: A patriotic gesture as citizens and subjects were encouraged to explore their nation's tourism regions. Nazi Germany's Strength through Joy program subsidized travel for working-class Germans. One of the major projects of the program included "assert[ing] that Germans everywhere should be interested in the various regions" of Germany and that "part of preserving German culture...was to get to know it in all its variants". According to D. Medina Lasansky, in Italy, one piece of tourism literature argued that "every region of Italy represents
610-522: A specific area. One popular type is an ecomuseum which promotes natural and cultural tourism in rural areas. Ecomuseums originated in France in the 1970s and have spread across Europe and to North America as well. For example, the Canadian province of Alberta rationalized its tourism regions during 1998 to six, down from nearly twenty. Despite this, local initiatives continue to promote much smaller areas than
671-481: A way that every inch of that country, state, or region is given an attractive name, provided with advertising, and basic tourism infrastructure such as signage. Some traditionally heavily touristed countries such as France have implemented this strategy to encourage tourists who would normally only spend time in more famous areas such as Paris and the French Riviera to venture out into designated tourism regions such as
SECTION 10
#1732855494598732-413: Is one of seven counties in the United States to share the same name as the state it is located in (the other six being Arkansas County , Hawaii County , Idaho County , Iowa County , New York County (Manhattan), and Utah County ), and the only one of the seven to contain the state capital, and one of two to contain a city of the same name as well. The area that would someday be called Oklahoma County
793-470: Is the southeast part of the city. In 1947, returning veteran Nicholas Harroz opened Nick's Brett Drive Grocery, which later became Crest Discount Foods, which is now one of the largest discount chains in the Oklahoma City metro area. Soon after its opening, Midwest City citizens opted for a charter-council-city manager form of government to better manage their rapid growth. Midwest City's regional hospital
854-535: Is water. According to the 2010 U.S. census , there were 718,633 people, 277,615 households, and 172,572 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,013 inhabitants per square mile (391/km ). There were 319,828 housing units at an average density of 416 units per square mile (161 units/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 64.6% White , 15.4% Black or African American , 3.5% Native American , 3% Asian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 8.1% from other races , and 5.3% from two or more races; 15.1% of
915-571: Is within Mid-Del School District , and includes Midwest City High School , Carl Albert High School, Midwest City Middle School, Carl Albert Middle School and numerous elementary schools. The district also includes a post-secondary school, the Mid-Del Technology Center . Rose State College , a two-year community college, is also located in the city. The school district was initially housed in prefabricated hutments and began with
976-699: The European Union encourage the renewal of interest in cross-border regions, tourism regions may increasingly assume a more transnational form. For example, the Euroregions of the European Union allow areas that have been separated by the borders of nation-states to reassert some cultural and political sovereignty . The Euroregion of Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino was formed to encourage cross-border cooperation between Austria's Tyrol region and Italy's provinces Trentino and South Tyrol , all three formerly part of
1037-493: The Frontier Country tourism region Midwest City has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa ). As of the census of 2010, there were 54,371 people, 22,726 households, and 14,293 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,210.2 inhabitants per square mile (853.4/km). There were 25,535 housing units at an average density of 1,038.0 per square mile (400.8/km). The racial makeup of
1098-700: The Lake District of England, the French Riviera and the Italian Riviera . Others developed around specific attractions such as a major city, i.e. Paris, or a monument such as the Pyramids of Giza . Tourist regions have existed for thousands of years for relaxation and leisure as well as for religious expression. The ancient Romans visited the hot springs of Bath in Roman Britain while Santiago de Compostela
1159-622: The Unassigned Lands . In 1889, the US federal government held a land run for the Unassigned lands, which led to the rapid settlement of the area. By 1890, Oklahoma County was called "County Two" and was one of seven counties established by the Organic Act of 1890. County business initially took place in a building at the intersection of California Avenue and Robinson Street until the construction of
1220-426: The "Frontier Trails" region of south-central Nebraska attempt to deemphasize the state's reputation as a place people cross on their way somewhere else by capitalizing the role the state's territory played in the United States' often romanticized project of westward expansion . A counter-trend to the establishment of government-designated tourism regions is that of local voluntary associations which cooperate to market
1281-567: The 19th century encouraged the appreciation of the natural world, leading to the explosion in popularity of scenic tourism regions such as the English Lake District and the Niagara Falls region. According to Peter Murphy, "increased competition" encouraged private development of hotels, resorts, and entertainment facilities as well as "municipal investment in parades, parks, piers, and baths." These trends marked an important intervention of
SECTION 20
#17328554945981342-535: The 2010 mayoral race. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 24.6 square miles (64 km), all land. The city's elevation is 1,157 feet above sea level. The city is located in Oklahoma County and the area is known for low hills and two species of blackjack oak and post oak . Midwest City also falls into an ecological region known as the Cross Timbers , and
1403-589: The Austrian County of Tyrol that once encompassed a large area of the eastern Alps . One of the goals of this partnership is the establishment of Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino as a coherent tourism region. To further this goal, the Euroregion has produced an extensive travel guide of the region on the Internet. In addition to Tyrol, some of the many Euroregions that have positioned themselves as tourist regions include
1464-530: The I-40 freeway Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Oklahoma County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma . As of the 2020 census , the population was 796,292, making it the most populous county in Oklahoma. The county seat is Oklahoma City , the state capital and largest city. Oklahoma County is at the heart of the Oklahoma City metropolitan statistical area . Oklahoma County
1525-575: The Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command on November 1, 1945 and is now the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center. Midwest City is home to a four-star 18-hole municipal golf course, a 9-hole municipal golf course, a swimming pool, splash park, and several urban parks. The nearby base hosts an annual Star-Spangled Salute each summer. The Juneteenth Midwest City Family Festival began in 2023 commemorating
1586-524: The Roman resort town of Bath, particularly during hotter months that left industrializing cities extremely unpleasant. The development of faster methods of transportation during the nineteenth century allowed tourists to travel greater distances in smaller periods of time. This period also saw the "seaside" developed as a "spatial area for 'mass tourism,'” a phenomenon that resulted in the development of specific coastal areas as tourist regions. Among elite groups in
1647-653: The Western Loire Valley and Franche-Comté . The first of these is a more recently constructed region, while Franche-Comté has been a distinct political and cultural region since the Middle Ages . Other governments, such as that of the American state of Nebraska , have attempted to use the creation of tourism regions to help produce a tourism industry in a state not frequently considered by potential tourists. The state's "Lewis and Clark" region in northeast Nebraska and
1708-497: The age of 18 living with them, 43.1% were married couples living together, 15.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 31.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.26. As of 2021, there were 313,822 households with an average of 2.48 people per household. The median value of an owner-occupied housing unit
1769-560: The city was 64.6% White , 21.9% African American , 3.7% Native American , 1.7% Asian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 1.5% from other races , and 6.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.6% of the population. There were 22,726 households, out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.2% were married couples living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.4% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who
1830-420: The college. The 8,000 sq. ft. historic home, preserved in its original design when Atkinson was anticipating a run for governor, is available for free tours by appointment. To serve the community and help financially support the historic property, the house conference room and the 1951 pony barn are available for event rentals. Midwest City is within the boundaries of multiple school districts. The largest portion
1891-417: The demands of multiple identities: local, regional, state, national ... They instructed their audiences that the regions' political, social, and economic fates were inextricably bound to their landscapes and geography". Tourists were portrayed "as important historical actors whose engagement ... played a vital role in shaping the outcome of that bond". Although local and regional governments took
Midwest City, Oklahoma - Misplaced Pages Continue
1952-622: The early 1970s, the Glenwood Addition subdivision, just north of the TAFB runway, was purchased from individual owners with funds raised in a county-wide bond election after plane crashes in the area killed several civilians and military crewmen. 835 homes were moved and an elementary school was closed down. The former subdivision is fenced off and used as storage and training exercises for TAFB personnel. Portions of Midwest City particularly northwest of Tinker Air Force Base sustained extreme damage from
2013-546: The early 21st century, leading to the development of a new Town Center Plaza shopping area that faces Interstate 40 and Tinker Air Force Base . The Town Center Plaza development replaced an aging, largely deserted Atkinson Plaza shopping center. In 2003, the Reed Center, a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m) convention center, was built. Meanwhile, the Heritage Park Mall has slowly dwindled, becoming an issue of contention in
2074-634: The facility the Tinker Aerospace Complex. During World War II, the Midwest City Douglas Aircraft Company Plant constructed more than half of the 10,000 C-47 Skytrain U.S. Army cargo planes. The plant cost $ 24 million and rolled out its first C-47s in March 1943. Some 38,000 Oklahomans labored at the plant, the majority of them women. The plant closed on August 17, 1945, and was redesignated Building 3001 and transferred to
2135-629: The famous Bordeaux region in France is part of the political and tourism region of Aquitaine , while the Mosel wine region of Germany is located in the Rhineland-Palatinate state and extends far to the northeast of the Moselle and Saar tourism region. According to C. Michael Hall, a wine region's success depends not only upon its grapes and the experience of wine tasting , but also on its "infrastructure, physical environment, scenery, regional cuisine and
2196-547: The fashionable Grand Tour of continental Europe for wealthy young men popularized the idea of leisure travel. The popularity of the Grand Tour, combined with the stresses and benefits of the Industrial Revolution, encouraged wealthy and middle-class European and American families to explore leisure travel, though on a more local scale. These families began frequenting seaside resorts known for their health benefits such as
2257-449: The first Oklahoma County Courthouse at 520 West Main Street in the 1900s. In 1937, the county government was moved to a building at 321 Park Avenue, which now serves only as the county courthouse. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 718 square miles (1,860 km ), of which 709 square miles (1,840 km ) is land and 9.6 square miles (25 km ) (1.3%)
2318-625: The first American general killed in World War II (June 7, 1942) near Wake Island, the airfield was renamed in his honor. Seward Mott, the director of the Federal Housing Administration's Land Planning Division, helped design the city, gaining national print and broadcast attention, and it became a model for postwar community development. The city incorporated the Mishak community of Czech and German immigrants that had formed in what now
2379-453: The first in May 1999 and the second on May 8, 2003 . W.P. "Bill" Atkinson bought land in the area that would become Midwest City after hearing speculation that an air field was going to be built nearby. The city, which was incorporated on March 11, 1943, was named for the air field's original designation as the Midwest Air Depot. When Major General Clarence L. Tinker of Pawhuska, Oklahoma became
2440-539: The growing Republican trend in Oklahoma since the end of World War II . It was one of the few areas in the South where Jimmy Carter didn't do well. However, the Republican share of votes for president has decreased in every election since the 2004 election (with the exception of 2024). In the 2022 Oklahoma gubernatorial election , Democratic candidate Joy Hofmeister received her largest vote share of any county, with 55.0% of
2501-509: The larger media. Most tourism regions belong to a larger economic and administrative unit which takes on the role of developing the discourse of the tourism region into a marketable product. According to Saarinen, once the discourse of a tourism region has been established, the parent region helps shape further development of the area as a tourism region. This earlier period is characterized by rapid development, construction, investment in greater advertising, and increasing tourism. Eventually, if
Midwest City, Oklahoma - Misplaced Pages Continue
2562-518: The larger role in promoting regional tourism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, national governments in Europe and the United States began aggressively promoting travel within their own borders. In doing so, they drew upon nationalist sentiment to imbue tourism regions within the state with greater cultural and historical meaning. Travel became
2623-604: The largest single-site employer in Oklahoma. Other large employers include the Midwest Regional Medical Center and aerospace industry businesses affiliated with the base. The General Motors Oklahoma City Assembly plant was another major employer from its opening in 1979 until its closure in February 2006. GM closed the plant as part of a cost-savings measure. The property was later acquired by Oklahoma County and leased to Tinker Air Force Base for $ 1/year. Tinker renamed
2684-621: The national Juneteenth holiday. Rose State College hosts Global Oklahoma each year on the first Saturday in October. When Midwest City's founder and developer, W. P. "Bill" Atkinson, passed away in 1999, he left his 1955 mansion in trust for the community's enjoyment and historical appreciation. Today, the Atkinson Heritage Center at N.E. 10th and Midwest Blvd. is owned by the Rose State College Foundation and maintained by
2745-592: The nineteenth century, "the mountains" also became increasingly popular in the winter months; the most popular of these regions was Tyrol in Austria. Tourism regions were often subject to downward mobility as areas frequented by the upper class such as the Catskill Mountains of New York and Bath in England were abandoned by wealthier visitors when they became too popular with the middle class. The romantic movement of
2806-648: The number of wine regions catering to tourists has grown in recent decades. Although wine regions have existed since the 1850s in France, wine tourism became increasingly popular in the 1970s. Wine regions such as Bordeaux and Burgundy in France were joined by regions in California, Italy, Spain, and even New York as areas of interest to the potential wine tourist. Currently, several dozen countries have their own wine regions, while many of these countries have dozens of regions within their borders. Many wine regions do not correspond to designated tourism regions. For example,
2867-770: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Throughout its population, 12.4% were of German , 12.3% Mexican , 10.1% Irish , 7.9% English , and 7.7% American ancestries according to the 2010 census. 84.4% spoke English and 11.5% Spanish as their first language. At the 2020 U.S. census , its population increased to 796,292, with a 2022-estimate at 802,559. Racially, the 2021 American Community Survey estimated 54.5% were non-Hispanic white , 15.8% Black or African American, 4.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 5.8% multiracial, and 18.5% Hispanic or Latino of any race. An estimated 10.2% of its population between 2017 and 2021 were foreign-born residents. In 2010, there were 277,615 households, out of which 28.5% had children under
2928-499: The region becomes successful as a tourism region, a mature stage in the development of a tourism region is reached where the "meaning and history of the destination are continually produced anew" in cycles of decline, reinvention, growth, and stability. Historically, tourism regions often developed in areas widely considered to be of historical, cultural, or natural importance such as the Niagara Falls region of New York and Canada,
2989-461: The region contribute to the welfare of the whole". The idea of the region as part of a whole nation gained further ground in the first years of the twentieth century, particularly after World War I, as an argument was advanced that "every region had its own 'soul'...an organic part of the nation". During this period, regional officials and businesses began promoting regions as tourist destination. Through this process, "tourism promoters strove to balance
3050-510: The same time, regions became an increasingly important aspects of nationalism. It is also during this period that the English phrase "tourist region" came into use. Eric Storm has argued that in the later decades of the nineteenth century "the stress was put on the region in order to underline the intimate bond between everyone's own community and the nation". According to Strom, many people believed that "only by being faithful to its own character could
3111-576: The six massive official regions, which are larger than many European countries. For example, the "Might Peace Tourism Association" is a grouping of local municipalities in the Peace Country , which has existed since 1963. Likewise, the Kalyna Country eco-museum serves a similar role in East-Central Alberta. Building on the success of enotourism in regions such as California's Wine Country,
SECTION 50
#17328554945983172-467: The social and cultural components of the wine region"—in short, the major characteristics of tourism regions more generally. Wine routes are also a popular feature of wine regions, helping to guide the wine tourist from vineyard to vineyard. Often these wine routes are marked by signs along the region's highways which also serve to inform non-wine tourists of the existence of the wine region. As globalization and supranationalist organizations such as
3233-615: The state into the evolution of tourism regions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, governments increasingly took a role in encouraging the development of tourism regions. Federal and state governments in the United States, with the encouragement of conservation groups , and European countries and their colonies began setting aside areas as parks, monuments, and trails for preservation and future enjoyment. Some of these, such as Niagara Falls, were existing tourism regions while parks such as Yellowstone National Park were areas selected by these organizations as future tourism regions. At
3294-528: The tourist attraction into a symbol of national loyalty, in order to reproduce patriotism as a form of brand-name identification". In these WPA guides, the region became an object of nostalgia, a victim of the national identity that flourished through celebration of the regionalism it was helping to weaken. Continuing earlier trends, governments have attempted to maximize tourism potential by reverse engineering tourism regions. This process consists of dividing their territories into discrete tourism regions in such
3355-464: The vote and a modest improvement over the 2018 Democratic candidate, Drew Edmonson . Incumbent Republican Governor Mary Fallin was the last member of her party to win the county with 51.3% in 2014. Also, in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Oklahoma , Democrat Kendra Horn received 52.3% of the vote in Oklahoma County, which was the only county in the state to vote for
3416-436: Was $ 164,000 from 2017 to 2021, and the median gross rent was $ 929. In 2010, the median income for a household in the county was $ 42,916, and the median income for a family was $ 54,721. The per capita income for the county was $ 25,723. About 11.70% of families and 15.30% of the population were below the poverty line , including 21.70% of those under age 18 and 8.60% of those age 65 or over. In 2021, its median household income
3477-485: Was $ 58,239 with a per capita income of $ 34,129. Approximately 16.3% of the population lived at or below the poverty line. Since the second half of the 20th century, Oklahoma County has been quite conservative for an urban county. It swung from a 20-point victory for Harry Truman in 1948 to a 15-point victory for Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 . It has gone Republican in all but one presidential election since then; it narrowly voted for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. This mirrors
3538-460: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.97. In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 25.2% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.1 males. The median income for
3599-535: Was a site of mass Christian pilgrimage supported by a major medieval tourism industry that provided travelers with accommodations along their pilgrimage route. The modern tourism region emerged from the Industrial Revolution as cities grew in size, pollution increased, and an expanding middle class possessed greater amounts of disposable income. From the Enlightenment through the nineteenth century,
3660-434: Was dedicated October 6, 1962, built with the use of bond money. Voters also approved the creation of a junior college district in 1968. Oscar Rose Junior College opened its doors to students in 1970 and is now known as Rose State College. The Heritage Park Mall opened in 1978 on North Air Depot and was a prime shopping area in the city for several decades. The first Sam's Club was opened in Midwest City on April 7, 1983. In
3721-783: Was originally inhabited by members of the indigenous nations of the Southern Plains, but by the 1830s the land would become part of the territory assigned to the Seminoles and Creeks after their removal from their ancestral lands in the Southeastern USA. As a result of the Reconstruction era treaties signed between the US government and the Seminole and Creek nations in 1866, the land was taken from tribal jurisdiction but not assigned to other tribal governments, which in time led it to be called
SECTION 60
#1732855494598#597402