Officials tout benefits of tourism workshop
Officials are trying to get the word out about “Capitalize Our Assets, Preserve Our Future,’ a daylong workshop that will develop a strategy to protect and enhance the area’s natural, cultural, historic and heritage assets. The workshop will be held on Monday, Sept. 18, at the Historic Summit Inn in Farmington with registration at 8:30 a.m. and the workshop lasting from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Fayette Chamber of Commerce, National Road Heritage Corridor, Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Fayette County Historical Society and California University are the sponsors.
“We haven’t had a tourism summit in a couple of years. This workshop, while similar to workshops of the past, focuses on current opportunities and challenges facing Fayette County in moving forward,’ said Donna Holdorf, executive director of the National Road Heritage Corridor.
“In Fayette County, as is true in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, tourism volleys between number one and number two. This area – the Laurel Highlands – is becoming more of a destination. People are traveling here from Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Columbus, Cleveland and other places in Pennsylvania, such as Erie and Philadelphia.’
Muriel Nuttal, executive director of Fayette Chamber of Commerce, commented, “The really great thing about this workshop is it focuses on issues of tremendous importance for Fayette County – issues that will impact our economic future – and that so many organizations are working together to present this tourism workshop. It’s good to see that kind of consensus in our tourism and business community.’
The workshop will feature as facilitator Dr. Shelley Mastran, who is a preservation planning consultant and co-directs the Your Town: Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the former director of the Rural Heritage Program of the National Trust of Historic Preservation. She worked with Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute on the publications “Better Models for Development in Pennsylvania,’ as well as co-author with Samuel N. Stokes and A. Elizabeth Watson of the second edition of “Saving America’s Countryside.’
The luncheon speaker is Bill Flanagan, executive vice president and chief public affairs officer for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and its affiliated regional development organizations. Flanagan oversees overall organizational communications, including the conference regional improvement agenda that centers on improving the region’s competitiveness and the regional marketing communications program that seeks to retain and attract jobs and talent.
The workshop also will feature small group discussions about enhancing heritage, cultural and recreational tourism. Participants will break into work groups on four topics: zoning and land use planning with Michel R. Leferve and Bill Callahan of Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; visitor ready/hospitality; marketing/curb appeal; and caring for public spaces with Cara Armstrong, curator of education for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
Discussing these topics, Holdorf described curb appeal as “the difference between driving by some place and feeling as if you had to stop there.’
She said, “Hospitality is the way we greet our visitors and are prepared to give them information to help them enjoy their visit.’
Holdorf also referred to the problem of visitors asking local residents, “I’m in town three or four days – what’s there to do?’ and the residents answering, “I’ve lived here all my life. There’s nothing to do.’ “Which isn’t true,’ said Holdorf. She noted that local residents who work the front line in hotels are in a key position to help these visitors.
Being visitor ready “means being open. There are some wonderful historic destinations but through a lack of volunteers, they are not open. We have to figure out how to get volunteers and staff and be open,’ she said.
Caring for public spaces, Holdorf said, “Having pride in our communities, keeping them clean and protect them from vandalism. We are just good citizens – that we have a destination where people want to visit.’
At 2:30 p.m., participants will discuss strategies that can be put into a pro-active movement.
“We will form a tourism alliance that will move strategy forward with appropriate entities we need to work with, such as PennDOT (state Department of Transportation) or the DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources),’ said Holdorf. “We really want this to be a pro-active strategy and are looking forward to getting people on the alliance and advancing the strategy. At the end of this, we don’t want to have people go home and say, ‘That’s a good idea, but who’s going to do this?’ Instead, we want them to say, ‘This is a good idea and these are the people we need to work with to make it happen.’
Who should come to the workshop? Organizers are suggesting state, county and local officials, tourism-related businesses, historical societies, libraries and other community groups, preservation and conservation organizations.
Holdorf added, “Anyone who has an interest in seeing Fayette County move forward with all the wonderful things here – anyone who wants to enhance what we already have and let people on the outside know about it and tell other people.’
Reservations are required. There is a $15 charge per person that includes lunch and all workshop materials. Registration forms are available on the Fayette Chamber of Commerce Web site at www.faycham.org or by calling 724-437-4571 or 724-437-9877.