Book traces railway tourism promotion in New Mexico

New Mexico Business Weekly

August 10, 2005

The "Santa Fe Mystique" that lures tourists to New Mexico was "an intentional marketing strategy" of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, according to a new book that traces the railway's involvement in promotion of Southwest attractions.

The book, "All Aboard for Santa Fe," by New Mexico native and historian Victoria Dye, has just been released by the University of New Mexico Press in Albuquerque. The book focuses on the railroad's promotional efforts from the 1890s to the 1930s.

Dye writes that the AT&SF was particularly interested in promoting Santa Fe even though the city wasn't on its main rail line. Thanks to the successful efforts, it was "largely responsible for putting this Southwestern town on the map," she says.

A portion of the book is also devoted to Albuquerque, "the town down the tracks" that never quite matched the aura of Santa Fe. "The ongoing success of the Santa Fe tourism industry ... and may be seen as testimony to the unprecedented use of regional motifs and cultural icons in marketing and tourism throughout the twentieth century," Dye notes.

More information on the hardcover book and other publications is available at unmpress.com.