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 .