Support welcome for growing tourism
Tourism is often overlooked as an industry that pours millions of dollars into the local economy. There are various reasons most people don’t see tourism as big business. Unless you have Disney World in your backyard, there are no huge parking lots where hundreds of employees arrive every day to begin their work shifts.
Yet, there are hundreds of people in the Fayette County area who go to work everyday at businesses that depend directly on tourism for their income. Their employees depend on tourists for their paychecks in a variety of jobs, ranging from restaurants to whitewater tour guides. The Laurel Highlands area has an abundance of natural beauty with its scenic mountains and tourism attractions, including but not limited to Falling Waters, Nemacolin Woodlands and Resort, Ohiopyle State Park, Kentuck Knob, Yough Lake and whitewater rafting, and many others.
The opportunity to focus attention on this industry is being presented again this year at the Second Annual Tourism Summit for Fayette County. The conference begins at 11:30 a.m. Monday at Nemacolin Woodlands in the Marquis ballroom.
Sponsored by the chambers of commerce from Uniontown, Connellsville and Brownsville, along with the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, Nemacolin Woodlands and the County of Fayette, the conference brings together tourism and travel experts from a variety of programs.
A new Fayette County Tourism Guide was produced as a result of last year’s tourism summit. The county also sent a tourism marketing team to the National Association of Counties Conference in Philadelphia.
Fayette County is experiencing economic growth in spite of the national downturn in the economy. Much of the new development is related or connected to tourism, such as new hotels and restaurants either completed or still under construction.
The tourism summit is an excellent opportunity for the public, government leaders and business managers and owners to join forces in mapping strategy for the future growth and development of the tourism industry in the Fayette County area.