Friday, November 29, 2002

Carter pledges support to Georgia tourism at summit

Former President and Nobel Laureate Jimmy Carter joined other influential State leaders during a recent tourism summit and pledged support to Georgia tourism. In a speech at The Southern Pine Conference Center at Callaway on Tuesday, November 12, Carter said he was surprised to learn that Georgia ranks lowest in tourism promotion spending amongst surrounding Southeastern states.

"Every other state in the Southeast has a higher budget than Georgia," Carter said. He questioned why more funding was not allocated by the State legislature, considering tourism is Georgia's second largest industry, with untapped potential for economic growth. "I think if you analyze this you will see our state is the most diverse of all," Carter said. "You (Tourism Development Alliance) need to present the next Governor with a package so convincing that he will make it his highest priority."

The summit, sponsored by the Tourism Development Alliance of Georgia and made up of business and public sector leaders from across the state, goal was to highlight the importance of tourism to Georgia's economy and develop a game plan on how to increase funding for an industry that benefits the entire state. Summit roundtable sessions were held where attendees collaborated on strategies to increase tourism's influence within the state.

A few influential leaders who made opening remarks and spoke on summit panels included: Bo Callaway, Sr., Callaway: Gardens, Resort, Preserve; Helen Fincher, Chairman of the Georgia Hospitality & Travel Association; RK Sehgal, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism (GDITT); Janis Cannon, Deputy Commissioner of Tourism, GDITT; Bill Hardman, Jr., Southeast Tourism Society; Neely Young, Georgia Trend; Robin Spratlin, Georgia Power; J.T. Williams, Killearn; George Fischer, Callaway: Gardens, Resort, Preserve; Abit Massey, Georgia Poultry Federation; Phil Jacobs, Bell South; Kent Buescher, Wild Adventures Theme Park; and Nancy Cobb, One Georgia Authority.

The summit highlighted the significant economic impact the tourism industry has on a wide variety of businesses throughout the State. Robin Spratlin with Georgia Power said her company supports tourism because it directly affects their customer base. "It is a quality of life issue. It is critical to bring in industry. They (customers) want to know the things to enjoy recreationally and culturally." Spratlin stated they have 24,000 customers in the tourism category, representing 24 percent of their commercial revenue and 8 percent of total revenue.

J.T. Williams with Killearn Inc. says tourism influences his real estate development company for some of the same reasons. He stated that residents of his high-end residential communities first discover the area as a tourist. They visit several times before deciding to purchase. The tourism attractions and amenities are an important consideration in their buying decision.

Phil Jacobs, President of BellSouth's Georgia Operations, said he supports Georgia's vibrant tourism industry, which represents traffic to his company. "Minutes on the network are like occupancy in a hotel - unused capacity is like vacant guest rooms. The amount of traffic generated by tourism in the state is tremendous." Jacobs continued by saying, "a strong tourism industry is directly related to successes in furthering economic development activities all across the state, which in turn benefits businesses like ours. BellSouth has and will continue to work hand in hand with the State in promoting Georgia because tourism and economic development are important to us all."

Bo Callaway, Sr., Chairman Callaway: Gardens, Resort, Preserve, wrapped up the message conveyed throughout the summit when he said, "tourism is economic development and you should never speak about economic development without talking about tourism."

Top issues addressed during the summit included protecting the hotel/motel tax for tourism promotion, partnerships between the tourism industry, the business community and elected officials, and rallying legislators to allocate more funding to GDITT for tourism promotion.

For more information on the Tourism Development Alliance or the results from the Georgia Tourism Summit, contact the Alliance at (800) 437-2416 ext. 23, or on-line at HtmlResAnchor www.tourismdevelopmentalliance.org.