LINCOLN- Frankly, it was a state tourism slogan that wasn’t for everybody. The Nebraska tourism director announced publicly that it was ditching its edgy, 5-year-old tagline: “Nebraska, honestly it’s not for everyone.” Officials said the slogan was successful in getting previously uninterested travelers curious about visiting Nebraska, but it had also been criticized — including by Gov. Jim Pillen — as reinforcing the state’s lack of soaring mountains and ocean beaches.

“It’s a thing of the past,” John Ricks, director of the Nebraska Tourism Commission, told members of the Legislature’s budget-writing Appropriations Committee. “Times change. Everything has a shelf life,” added David Fudge, executive director of North Platte’s Nebraskaland Days festival. Ricks made the revelation during a public hearing in which he requested an increase in spending authority for his commission, from $7.4 million to $10.5 million, to increase marketing of visiting the state.

The increased spending, Ricks emphasized, would be financed by a combination of state lodging taxes and surplus tourism commission funds, not tax dollars. Dropping the slogan comes as a proposal is being considered in the Nebraska Legislature to transfer the now-independent Tourism Commission back under the control of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

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