The Newport mansions, South County beaches and Providence restaurants get all the attention when people talk about the tourism industry in Rhode Island.

Bob Billington feels left out.

“We are overlooked,” says Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, the group that promotes historical, recreational and cultural attractions in the region that includes nine municipalities from Pawtucket to Woonsocket.

Last week, Billington put out a news release that called attention to the 54,175 travelers in May and June who stopped at the new visitors’ center that has been open for 18 months off Route 295 in Lincoln, and he referred to the 100,000 tourists who annually use a separate visitors’ center in downtown Pawtucket.

Billington pointed out the “surprising” numbers of Rhode Islanders and out-of-towners who are visiting the Blackstone Valley.

In a phone conversation, however, Billington wanted to talk more about much bigger economic ideas than simple tourism totals.

He explained that his and his staff’s goal is community development in Blackstone Valley through tourism, and all it generates. He wants to improve the overall landscape where people live by getting visitors to support the small businesses, services and activities residents offer and from which they benefit.

He talked about bettering their quality of life by improving the environment and giving them access to cultural and economic opportunities.

In effect, Billington thinks of tourism, and the money it generates, not as an end unto itself, but as a means to delivering a wider economic impact.

“I live for how to improve this area as a place to live and work,” he says. “It’s not all about collecting the most tourism dollars. We are not a theme park.”

A theme park shuts down at night. Everybody goes home. But the Blackstone Valley is a series of older cities and towns along the river whose heyday was part of Rhode Island’s industrial past. Among them are Pawtucket, Central Falls, Cumberland, Burrillville, Glocester and Woonsocket. Rhode Islanders do not consider them the garden spots of the state. Many people there struggle to make ends meet.

Some of the means Billington wants to use are the “gateways” to the region and the activities and attractions that draw people.

One of them is the new visitors’ center on Route 295, which he says is an unqualified success, even though he has heard the snickering about its location off the northbound lane of the highway as people are leaving the state and the grand 9,700-square-foot Colonial post-and-beam construction.

He explains that not since 1992, when two small, “stone bunkers” that served as visitors’ centers off the highway were closed, have tourists had a place to stop. The center, which opened in January 2006, is there to provide easy access to the adjacent state park and 18-mile bike path along the Blackstone. It’s also a safe, convenient stop for travelers and truckers who are looking for information and services. And here’s an interesting fact — while the access road and the parking lot were built on the federal right of way, the building was cleverly placed on state property, allowing state officials to contract with a vendor, Dunkin’ Donuts, to serve customers and provide revenue to offset the center’s cost of operation.

By the way, Billington says state planners are now working on a visitors’ center off the southbound side of the highway, although that’s probably years away.

The Blackstone Valley’s other visitors’ center, across from Slater Mill in downtown Pawtucket, is also a gateway used to direct visitors into the city and north to all the attractions along the river.

While Slater Mill, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, draws a significant number of people, Billington says two other commercial ventures — the Twin River slot and entertainment emporium in Lincoln, and McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, where the PawSox play, are the biggest attractions. His job is to draw off some of those patrons to visit the Blackstone Valley sites and support the region and its people.

Billington says he’s had conversations with Governor Carcieri about how to use tourism for community development and not just to make money. You have to wonder how that went at a time when the state was looking for every new dollar available to fill holes in the state budget.

But Billington’s got big ideas about economic development and tourism.

His region in the Blackstone Valley — and his ideas — are worth a look.