Spa City kicks off tourism week

Visit Hot Springs and the city’s hospitality industry will kick off a weeklong celebration of National Travel and Tourism Week today.

A passport-themed photo booth in Hill Wheatley Plaza will be open from 1-3 p.m. today, offering free photographs of visitors to the city.

A variety of activities, including a Facebook Live “Rally Day” showcasing visitor sites through-

out the city, will be offered during the coming week.

On Tuesday, the “Faces of Travel” theme will be celebrated on “Rally Day” with Facebook Live videos of people who make up Hot Springs tourism at locations across the city.

The visits will be streamed at https:// www.facebook.com/visithotsprings/, according to Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs.

The “Faces of Travel” also will be featured at a blog site at http://www. hotsprings.org. Residents and visitors are welcome to post their own Facebook Live video and to connect with activities at hashtags #VisitHotSprings, #FacesofTravel and #NTTW17.

Among the videos will be those shot at Red Light Roastery with Adam Moore at 8 a.m.; Superior Bathhouse Brewery at 9:30 a.m.; Hills @ Belvedere at 10:45 a.m.; Belle of Hot Springs at noon; Next Level Kitchen at 1 p.m.; Mid-America Science Museum at 1:30 p.m.; AdventureWorks at 2:45 p.m.; Garvan Woodland Gardens at 4 p.m.; Maxwell Blade’s Theater of Magic at 5:30 p.m.; sunset from the Hot Springs Mountain Tower at 6:45 p.m., and supper at the Ohio Club with Mike and Donna Pettey at 8 p.m.

On Friday and Saturday, there will be a Shonen Knife concert at Low Key Arts Friday at 8:30 p.m. On Saturday, there will be a Beatles tribute band concert at Tower of Strength Ministries.

A calendar of Tourism Week events is available at http://www.hotsprings.org.