Tourism Development
Utilizing nature and heritage-based tourism is an important economic development strategy. UACED works with Alabama communities to assist them in showcasing their assets. With tourism playing a prominent part in the state’s overall economy, the Tourism Development Program brings together the many cultural, heritage, rural, public lands and arts constituencies under the economic development umbrella to unify efforts to promote natural, cultural and heritage tourism.
Tourism Development in West Alabama
Through a partnership with the Appalachian Regional Commission, UACED began collaboration with various economic development entities in western Alabama made up of the following counties: Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Pickens and Tuscaloosa. Through this project strategic assets for local economies will be developed and strengthened with a goal to increase the level of domestic and international visitation to west Alabama. We create economic impact in the region by promoting the value of the region’s assets from within. This will not only improve the local economy, but also foster opportunities for expanding economic development throughout the region.
UACED provided the framework needed to connect the regional partners, as well as the regional destinations, to work on tourism projects on a multi-county level while providing a strong core for future growth. With continued development in organization and planning, the region will build a sustainable economic initiative that will attract travelers and build economic expansion and support for the region. UACED staff and county representatives have worked to: establish an identity for the region, develop a regional website (www.tourwestalabama.com) with an interactive calendar, regional maps and themed tour itineraries to be published, marketed and distributed to tour operators and visitors. A regional facebook page was created and a representative from each county posts on social media outlets on a specific day of the week for increased and varied interaction. Regional teams created through this project continuously evaluate existing amenities and identify resources for professional development and marketing in hospitality and tourism. To better serve tourists, front-line service providers will be identified and offered regional hospitality training on a county level. |
With the ongoing objective to explore partnerships with existing trails and organizations that will help strengthen tourism in West Alabama, partners plan to research the Scenic Byways Program and attend a workshop in the summer of 2015. The Alabama Scenic Byway program will identify, protect, preserve and enhance the intrinsic resources of scenic corridors, through local community support that balances economic development through tourism and education in the history, culture and natural beauty of Alabama.
Another existing organization that West Alabama has partnered with is the USA Gulf States Geotourism Program; a Tour West Alabama partner serves on the Alabama committee for the program and has offered assistance to any West Alabama Tourism partners in submitting their attractions / venues / events to the website for listing consideration. This program seeks to capture and promote the culture and heritage of the region through the voices and stories of the people that live there. Previously submitted events for the region are listed on the National Geographic Geotourism site (www.usgulfcoaststatesgeotourism.com) which serves as a great resource for our regional calendar: Through a partnership with Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports and UACED, Tour West Alabama was able to participate in the Travel South International Showcase. West Alabama was promoted through printed publications as well as prescheduled appointments with over 30 tour operators and journalist from around the world. West Alabama was also able to have a presence at the Travel South Domestic Showcase gaining exposure to 107 tour operators who are interested in coming to the south. 2015 is the Year of Alabama BBQ and this theme was being promoted by Alabama Tourism at both marketplaces by giving away BBQ sauces from Dreamland BBQ (a West Alabama native restaurant) to each of the tour operators; this is amazing exposure for the area. This theme was promoted in print advertising, t-shirts and aprons that all Alabama partners wore while at the marketplace. West Alabama Partners decided they would like to submit BBQ venues throughout their counties to create a regional brochure and to create the “West Alabama BBQ Trail.” Once published, this promotional piece will be available digitally as well as placed on the tourwestalabama.com website for all partners to use to market the area. West Alabama will continue to partner with existing organizations to have a regional presence in marketplaces in the future. Our continued goal will be to encourage local citizens from the West Alabama region to work together regionally to increase tourism activities. UACED will continue the efforts to utilize the assets found in each of the counties to provide solutions to expand the tourism and cultural infrastructure. |
Tourism Expansion in East Alabama
Through a grant agreement between the Appalachian Regional Commission and the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development (UACED), began working on tourism expansion in East Alabama in December of 2010. Collaboration with various economic development entities in a five county area of eastern Alabama: Clay, Coosa, Cleburne, Randolph, Talladega was established to develop and implement a strategy to increase tourism and heritage-based outdoor recreation throughout the region. By developing a regional task force of committed locals to work on tourism projects on a multi-county level, we are instilling a sense of regionalism that will help to alleviate the issue and provide a strong core for future growth.
UACED and East Alabama Tourism Partners utilized a wide range of community outreach to link the venues, amenities and services to support tourism on a regional level. A major goal of tourism expansion in East Alabama is to provide a collaboration of people and organizations that will help build relationships to enhance the local ability to increase civic engagement in planning of programs focusing on cultural, heritage and nature-based tourism. This database will be shared among the counties as a regional resource guide. An inventory of tourism amenities served as the basis for the creation of the region-wide umbrella website: www.toureastalabama.com . The website was designed in an open-source format that can be provided to the tourism task force to update and maintain. The website includes a calendar module that will be helpful in promoting region-wide events and will be useful to remind each county of the events happening in their neighboring communities; fostering a stronger sense of regionalism and increasing their desire to work together. In addition to the regional website UACED developed a Facebook Page, e-newsletter and branding for Tour East Alabama. In late 2012, the project area increased from five East Alabama counties to eight. These counties include: Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Randolph, Talladega and Tallapoosa. The regional databases for the multiple-county area have been continuously updated as the project is promoted and additional individuals are engaged and recruited to work on the project. Local citizens from East Alabama region continue to work together regionally to increase tourism and heritage-based outdoor recreation. The University of Alabama Center for Economic Development is committed to continue the efforts to utilize the assets found in each of the counties to provide solutions to expand the tourism and cultural infrastructure. The methodology and format of the work performed to date has proved to be strong and flexible enough to adapt to the multiple counties involved. By working together, the counties will find that they can learn from each other and expand the region as a whole. |
Presentation of NADO Innovation Award. From Left to Right: Cotina Terry, 2nd Vice President of Tour East Alabama; NADO 2014-2015 Board President Terry Bobrowski, Executive Director of the East Tennessee Development District in Alcoa, TN; Mary Patchunka-Smith, TMP President of Tour East Alabama; Tammy Power 1st Vice President of Tour East Alabama.
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National Geographic GeoTourism
Perhaps the largest impacting and ongoing project is the National Geographic Geotoursim Project, funded with BP Oil Spill money that was allotted to the four state regions of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida. By partnering with National Geographic, we were able to highlight tourist attractions that sustains or enhanced the geographical character of a place – is environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. Our Southwest Alabama Office of Tourism and Film offered instruction to partners in our region to upload descriptions and pictures of the sites in Rural Southwest Alabama to the Geotourism website: www.usgulfcoaststatesgeotourism.com; if our tourism partners did not have the resources to submit the information or were not available, we provided staff to assist with the tasks, as well as identified and trained volunteers on how to do the research and submit the needed information. With UACED assistance, Southwest Alabama identified over 100 sites, more than any other region in the state. Each site now bears the logo of National Geographic, being marketed worldwide under the brand.
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Southwest Alabama Tourism
In conjunction with the Alabama-Tombigbee Regional Commission and the Ala-Tom Resource Conservation and Development Council, UACED has worked with 11 counties in Southwest Alabama including Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Escambia, Marengo, Monroe, Perry, Sumter, Washington and Wilcox in a tourism development project. The project began in 2006 to create opportunities for increased visitation and tourism through marketing efforts, partnering between counties and communities, and the development of several touring trails including Birding Trails, Ghosts of Alabama’s Black Belt Trail, the Gee’s Bend Quilt Murals Trail, and a culinary trail throughout the region. In 2015, we unveiled our redesign of the regional website,
www.alabamasfrontporches.org . One of the major upgrades is that now events, attractions and day trips can be directly added onto the website by our partners. |
Rack Cards
Realizing that each community has unique assets several “hub and spoke” itineraries were created where a specific community serves as the hub of several day trips to surrounding communities creating the spokes. In another effort to increase marketing, themed rack cards were produced and distributed to all eight of the Alabama Welcome Centers as well as other locations in the state and region. Three cards were produced this year: “Ghosts of the Black Belt”, “Christmas in the Black Belt” and our premier “Spring in Alabama’s Black Belt.”
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Hospitality Sheets
Another project was to develop a hospitality sheet for use by the front line people who communicate with tourists in their capacity as employees in motels, service stations, restaurants and other tourism related businesses. These employees often get asked for directions or other information by tourists and now they will have a list at their fingertips of all the information a tourist may need from food and lodging to where to find a hospital or doctor. This will increase the pleasantness of a visit by a tourist, while empowering workers with correct information about their community.
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Hospitality in your community
The importance of small details of social interaction between staff and client such as maintaining eye contact, friendly greetings, physical appearance and body language are important tools in hospitality. They can make the difference between a guest recommending your establishment to a friend, or feeling that your business was cold and uninviting. To begin to provide hospitality for your community, it is important to know all the resources available. A “Community Assets Inventory” gives you information on the places you have to market. The “Community Resources Inventory” gives you a current and thorough listing of the organizations and people that can be called on or coordinated to expand a town’s current offerings. Although developing this information takes time and effort, the information will be utilized locally and can enhance your hospitality to visitors.
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