VENTURA : Hotels, Motels Get New Visitors Guide

Hotel and motel guests in Ventura are being greeted by a new visitors guide, a glossy menu of tourist attractions and services available throughout the beachfront city.

The directory, paid for without any public dollars, lists nearly 130 gift shops, restaurants, antique stores and other businesses that cater to out-of-towners.

“The idea was that once people are here and they’re looking for something to do, to give them a real easy thing that jumps out at them,” said Bill Clawson, executive director of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau.

“This just sits in the hotel room begging to be looked at,” Clawson said. “It’s like a phone directory specifically for tourists.”

Since last week, more than 1,000 of the colorful brochures have been placed inside hotel and motel rooms throughout Ventura.

Although there are more than 2,100 guest rooms in the city, tourism officials have limited the directories’ circulation.

“All the biggies are carrying it--the Pierpont, the Holiday Inn, the Doubletree,” Clawson said.

“Some of the smaller places we had to leave out.”