Greg Van Dusen has big plans for Placer valley. As the recently appointed CEO of Placer Tourism (placertourism.com), Van Dusen is eager to talk about his goal to develop the area into an even more dynamic and interesting place to be. “There is a great spirit here,” he explains. “The time to develop our cultural amenities is right now.” Van Dusen is optimistic for good reason. With more than 195,000 inhabitants and an average household income of $100,000 a year, Rocklin, Roseville and Lincoln are ripe for tourist development. His goal? To transform these cities into the kind of places where people want to stick around – even when they’re on vacation. “[When] people are spending their money someplace else, it’s a drain on the economy,” Van Dusen insists. To change this, he is working hard to develop established tourist sites such as Thunder Valley Casino, and to recruit more sporting and entertainment events to our area. But that is only the beginning. His next goal is the construction of sports tourism and convention centers, which would then generate higher occupancy in nearby hotels, and provide a much-needed boost to the local economy. “It’s okay for us to have aspirations as a region… [we] can dare to have big dreams and we’ll be successful in achieving them!” With a man like Greg Van Dusen at the helm, it is easy to believe that anything is possible.
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