Online MR Magazine September 2016 | Page 41

ITSHOULDBENOTED HERETHATA NATIONALINITIATIVE CURRENTLYISBEING CONSIDEREDONLY FORMEDICINAL MARIJUANA, W HICH

MAYALSO IMPACT TRAVELANDTOURISM, ALBEITTO ALESSER EXTENT

ALREADY, PUBLICATIONS

SUCHASTRAVELAND TOURISM PUBLISHGUIDES TO TRAVELDESTINATIONS ANDTOURSTHATINCLUDE

ACANNABISELEMENT

states legalized casinos folowing the success of Nevada, yetfailedtocapitalize onthatlegalizationinthesame manner, itremainstobeseento whatextenttravelandtourism wil benefit as other states legalize.

Asofthiswriting, fourstates – Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, as wel as the District of Columbia, have passedreferendumstolegalize cannabis forrecreationaluse, and many more states have Novemberbalotinitiatives.

These states are in various stages of licensing and implementation.

Based upon the legalization process to date and the four-year history in Colorado, we are able to make some projections about what we mightseeinotherstatesandas anation, ifandwhenanational rereferendum isnotpassed.

Itshould benoted herethata nationalinitiative currently is being considered only for medicinal marijuana, which may also impact travel and tourism, albeit to a lesser extent.

Already, publications such as Travel and Tourism publish guides to travel destinations and tours that include a cannabiselement.

Therearemorethan400tours relatedtocannabisinColorado alone. Growerand dispensary tours forthose curious about the industry, combining cannabiswithmassages, hikes, and otheractivities, and even totours tailored to potential investorsare ala partofthe experience that can now be easilyhadinthatstate.

Background

In Q4, 2015, the Cannabiz Consumer Group™ fielded a comprehensive cannabis web survey to 2,500 demographicaly geographicaly respondents. and projectable

Results were projected to the totalUS in both legalized and non-legalized marketsinorder to project some of the conclusionsbelow.

Cannabiz isin the processof updating these findings through ongoing tracking of bothrecreationalandmedicinal marketsastheycomeonline.

Traveland tourism wilbe just oneofmanyindustrysegments tracked inordertounderstand how legalization of cannabis impactsthatindustry.

The survey included questionson travelresulting from legalized recreational cannabis and focused upon general impressions, since this an early stage marketplace.

W hatwas considered most important to understand at thisstageofthelegalization processwere:

• The importance of legal recreational cannabis to a traveler’ sdecision to visita destination;

• The estimated impact on the local economy as the result of travel for recreational cannabis consumption;

• W hoismostlikelytotravel becauseoflegalrecreational cannabisavailability; and

• W hether visitors to the legalized recreational markets consume actualy cannabisduringtheirstay

Legalization in and ofitself does notsignify availability, however. Implementation of the regulation takes some time, as states must implement licensing and oversight processes that generaly require a yearor moretoestablish.