Vote for your favorite 2012 Iowa Travel Guide cover candidate!

Iowa is the starting point for presidential candidates who are already busy at work vying for votes at the fast-approaching Iowa Caucuses.

But before that, Iowans (and people from around the world!), can cast their vote in an equally important race.

Beginning today Facebook users can vote for the cover of the 2012 Iowa Travel Guide! By simply “liking” Travel Iowa on Facebook, people will see three Iowa Travel Guide cover choices. One cover showcases canoeing on the Cedar River in Linn County. Another spotlights the High Trestle Trail Bridge near Madrid. A third option features Arnolds Park Amusement Park in Okoboji, the Orange City Tulip Festival, Lost Island Adventure Park in Waterloo, a Mississippi River sunrise, the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines, WhiteWater at Riverfront Park in Charles City and the Iowa Speedway in Newton.

This summer, the Iowa Tourism Office asked for suggestions via Facebook of destinations to feature on the cover of the travel guide. The response was tremendous, so we took the idea one step further and decided to give the public a chance to actually choose their favorite cover design.

Voting concludes at midnight on October 18. The winning design will be announced the next day during the Iowa Tourism Conference. (Register to attend!) Facebook fans can vote as often as they’d like and can pre-order the 2012 guide for delivery in January. It is available free of charge.

The four-color, 184-page guide is Iowa’s comprehensive trip-planning publication, with listings from more than 700 attractions, 750 hotels, 220 bed and breakfasts and 350 campgrounds. The Iowa Tourism Office will print 150,000 travel guides in 2012. To date in 2011, more than 11,000 people have viewed the travel guide online.

Shawna Lode, Iowa Tourism Office