Out-of-the-Way Destinations Offer Rural Flavor
Published Aug 26, 2008
Reelfoot Lake offers spectacular sunsets.
From Beale Street in Memphis to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee offers spectacular visitor attractions from one end of the state to the other.
While Graceland, Dollywood and the Grand Ole Opry are household names across America, Tennessee is also home to a panoply of lesser-known gems.
Attractions such as the Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum in Jackson, year-round hunting and fishing at Reelfoot Lake State Park in Tiptonville or the historic Natchez Trace Parkway draw thousands of visitors.
In 2006, Tennessee tourism generated an estimated $13.4 billion economic impact, up $1 billion for the second straight year and producing $1 billion in state and local sales tax revenues. More than 181,000 people are employed in the industry, generating an annual payroll of $5.1 billion.
To keep that momentum and highlight the broad range of the state’s attractions, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development has launched several initiatives, including comprehensive Web site www.tnvacation.com, the official Tennessee Vacation Guide and a co-op advertising program designed to help smaller tourism-related businesses and destinations reach a larger audience.
“This collective effort impacts the consumer with a strong Tennessee message and results in continued statewide industry growth,” says Dr. Phyllis Qualls-Brooks, assistant commissioner.
Rural tourism figures prominently in the department’s efforts. The state’s tourism partners can link their own Web page to the state’s, which now has more than 3,000 individual pages. The site, which also features a calendar listing more than 800 festivals and events throughout the state, had more than 4 million visitors in 2007.
In addition, the state hosts four travel-writer tours a year, with an average of 20 journalists in each one. The tours focus on specific regions of the state and generate coverage in a range of media.
With the Tennessee Sampler, tourism officials and destination representatives hit the road to promote Tennessee tourism in other locales. The 2008 trip was to Chicago, where more than 50 visits were held with local media along with more than 400 sales meetings.
The state also produces five seasonal brochures, as well as the guide, which has distribution of more than 550,000 copies.
All this, plus the chance to pair their own funds with state dollars in the co-op advertising program, allows smaller attractions to leverage a much larger marketing program, Qualls-Brooks says.
“Tennessee’s rural tourism, which includes our quaint small towns and unique agritourism attractions, is an essential component to the success of our industry,” she says. “The marketing opportunities offered to these important attractions from this department help to tell the story of some of Tennessee’s most treasured tourism assets.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Staff
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