Building the case for Biblio-Tourism

The Bookstore Tourism Blog recently announced the creation of Biblioexpeditions, the first "for-profit bookstore tourism company." Created by the Rebel Bookseller, Andy Laties (and author of the book of the same name), the idea is apparently to build a tour company built around book and bookstores. I can think of worse things, tour of special collection at NY Public Library, lunch at the Morgan, spend the afternoon at various shops then spend a nice evening (or two) at the Library Hotel. The question now, of course, is whether there are enough people like me (and you, if your are reading this) to make it viable.

His business statement, in part, is as follows:

BIBLIOEXPEDITIONS

OVERVIEW AND MISSION BiblioExpeditions is the nation's first “Bookstore Tourism” company. A Massachusetts-based for-profit corporation, BiblioExpeditions aims to mobilize readers to channel funds to libraries and community bookstores by gathering public, corporate, and non-profit organization support to achieve the National Endowment for the Arts' (NEA) “Big Read” mission: “To restore reading to the center of American culture.”

DEMAND AND OPPORTUNITY The landmark NEA report "Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America" (2004) documented a dramatic decline in literary reading among all age groups, ethnic groups, and education levels. BiblioExpeditions, noting that these findings correlate with a sharp decline in the number of bookstores, implements cause-related marketing campaigns that leverage booklovers' tales of journeying to great bookstores in order to create an image-enhancing value proposition for corporate sponsors. Sponsors invest in Calvert Social Investment Foundation “Community Investment Notes” (CINs) that underwrite rotating credit facilities to strengthen our partner bookstores.