The Wheel in the Sky...

Cool downtown scene ...... Check
Great skyline ...... Check
Lots to do ...... Check
Fabulous hotels and restaurants ...... Check
Big ass Ferris Wheel ...... Che-Wh-Wh-What?

It seems a new addition to the list of destination development must-haves is a ferris wheel that casts its shadow on the city skyline. The trend is entirely global with the market leader clearly being the London Eye. These iconic attractions have clearly come a long way since the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago where George Washington Ferris unveiled his wheel. It is now to the point that several different businesses are offering wheels at sites around the world from Berlin to Singapore to Beijing.

Destinations planning to reinvent the wheel need to know that this is not necessarily a silver bullet attraction despite the success of some of these ventures. Orlando's version has experienced delays and Baghdad's (yes, that Baghdad) version is under contemplation. Only time will tell if the attraction is unique enough for the big wheel to keep on turning.

The Latest Space Race

The Space Race of the sixties was shouldered on the backs of scientists, brave men whose job title ended in -naut, politicians, and an occasional dog or monkey. The latest space race includes one more group - economic developers. The on-ground race to develop spaceports is the latest example of copy-cat development behavior.

This fledgling industry is going to get more competitive as potential sites in Florida, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Hawaii compete with existing programs in places like New Mexico and Sweden. Lucrative recruitment incentives for luring research, commercial and tourism space ventures to these ports will be next and they'll be BIG.

The successful spaceports will be those that go after a unique angle or those that were the first to hook that champion of Uniquing, Richard Branson and his well capitalized (and well promoted) Virgin Galactic.