The Present and Future Camino Real

by R Edward Moore

Back to Texas Camino Real home page

The Camino Real has been nominated to become a National Historical Trail. National Historic Trails, along with National Scenic Trails, are established by Congress as part of the national trail system. National historic trail authorization means that federal funds would be available for the planning, development, and/or administration of the trail and related activities.

Trail segments already in public ownership would be the initial parts of the trail. Other trail segments could be developed and protected through various means such as cooperative agreements, easements, and actions through private agencies.

A historical trail is a corridor that takes in not only the trial or road itself, but also the associated archeological, historical and natural features.

There are already a number of these historical and scenic trails around the country. They have proven themselves to be very popular with tourists and locals

Because the surviving parts of the Camino Real between San Antonio and San Marcos exist mostly as scenic rural roads, these sections of the old road have the most potential for development as a historical resource when compared to other parts of the road in other parts of Texas.

Properly conserved and developed, a Texas Camino Real historical trail could draw thousands of tourists to the area. These tourists would create business income and local jobs. The kind of tourists who are attracted to historical places such as the Camino Real are affluent, above average in education and tend to bring their families with them.

The San Antonio - Austin area is already the number one tourist destination in Texas. Millions of tourists spend over a billion dollars in the corridor every year. The three most popular attractions are the Alamo, the State Capital and the San Antonio Missions - all historical sites. If a fraction of these tourists could be attracted to Hays County to see the Camino Real and other local historical features, they would spend tens of millions of dollars locally. The goal is to get them off of IH 35 and onto local roads and into local businesses. The Camino Real, combined with the other historical attractions in San Marcos and Hays County, can do that.

As an added bonus, the kinds of things that are done to develop and preserve a historical trail also improve the local quality of life.

The Camino Real is one of the most valuable assets the corridor region has.

2-1-2005