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Ähnlich wie Could the Kentucky Trail Town Program be an Answer for Economic Development in Central and Eastern Kentucky2.docx
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Could the Kentucky Trail Town Program be an Answer for Economic Development in Central and Eastern Kentucky2.docx
- 1. Could the Kentucky Trail Town Program be an Answer to Economic Development in Eastern and Central Kentucky? By Taylor Sabo, Berea College 3rd Annual Rural Studies Conference February 12-14, 2016 Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania
- 2. Goal To remove the uncertainty of adventure tourism as an economic sector for Central and Eastern Kentucky.
- 3. Agenda •A shameless plug for Berea College and EPG •Value of adventure tourism: Abingdon, VA •Berea, KY Trail Town
- 4. To provide an educational opportunity primarily for students from Appalachia, black and white, who have great promise and limited economic resources.
- 5. “To practice and implement Entrepreneurial Leadership in rural communities of Central Appalachia.”
- 6. What is Adventure Tourism?
- 7. Running, biking, zip-lining, hiking, and rock climbing
- 8. EPG students meet adventure tourists
- 9. Laurel County: 28 Tourism Events Held in 2015 Crossroads to Adventure” Source: Hendrickson, Rodney. “28 Events in London-Laurel County in 2015.” Shaping Our Appalachian Region Strategy Conference. Pikeville, KY.. May 2015. Laurel County: 28 Tourism Events Held in 2015
- 11. EPG students on the Virginia Creeper Trail
- 12. Virginia Creeper Trail Virginia Creeper Trail
- 14. EPG students gather at the Martha Washington Hotel, across the street from the Barter Theater, Abingdon VA
- 16. 56%
- 17. $337 per day
- 18. $735 per trip
- 21. City of Berea Trail Town Certification, Dec., 2015
- 22. We ( ) and the CBTTC believe that aligning cultural assets and natural resources can increase: 1. The health and wellness of ALL Berea residents The health and wellness of ALL Berea residents 2. The preservation and expand the cultural assets that make Berea a “special place to life?” 3. The social value and economic development of this community attracting out-of-towners to enjoy our historic, cultural assets and trail system.
- 23. City of Berea Trail Town Timeline June ‘16Dec ‘15 Trail Town Certification Trail Town Committee Formation State Trail Town Application Feb ‘15 Trail Town Program Feasibility June ‘14 New Trail Town Events and Tours Nov ‘16
Hinweis der Redaktion
- My name is Taylor Sabo and I am a senior agriculture and natural resources major at Berea College. I am here to present some of the work I have been doing with an institute at Berea College called Entrepreneurship for the Public Good (EPG) which I will explain about further in just a minute. First I would like to thank Rural Sociology for all that work that has been put into this conference and the hospitality they are showing us here.
- My one and only goal for this presentation is to remove the uncertainty of adventure tourism as an economic sector for Central and Eastern Kentucky. I am going to accomplish this in three parts.
- First and most important is a shameless plug for my sponsors, Berea College and EPG. Y’all are Land Grant so you understand, right? Anyways, on a slightly less important note, I want to communicate the value of adventure tourism by showing a case study my EPG cohort conducted in Abingdon, VA in the summer of 2014. Then I want to talk about our work with Kentucky Tourism’s Trail Town program and how we are using it to bring momentum to this idea of adventure tourism as an economic sector in Central and Eastern Kentucky.
- In 1855, John G. Fee felt that the society he was living in was not matching up with the attitude expressed in the verse that wraps around the BC logo (God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth}. He wanted to create a place where everyone was equal regardless of race, sex, and economic status. He founded Berea College on our version of a constitution called “The Great Commitments.” This is one of the great commitments of the college and probably our most defining. Another of our most defining commitments is Berea’s tuition free promise to all students.
- Entrepreneurship for the Public Good is a highly selective institute on campus created to instill entrepreneurial leadership in students. EPG provides a multi-year learning experience to develop entrepreneurial skills and abilities in freshman and sophomore undergraduate students. For the past few years, EPG has been working on developing adventure tourism as an economic model for the rest of the region. I said that I want to communicate to you the value of adventure tourism so I could talk about Laurel County Kentucky, West Newton, Pennsylvania or Gilbert, WV. But I’m going to zoom in on our case study of Abingdon and Damascus, Virginia that we conducted in the Summer of 2014.
- I said that I was going to remove uncertainty, right? We fear what we don’t know. Why do you think Global climate change is so scary? Cause we don’t know. I’m here to remove some uncertainty. What is adventure tourism? Well I’m glad you asked
- I’m going to define adventure tourism as any activity to experience the outdoors whether that is zip lining, hiking, biking, running, canoeing, kayaking, ect… These are pictures of some of the adventure tourism activities we experienced summer 2014. These are pictures from the Red River Gorge in Wolf County Kentucky where we experienced zip-lining, hiking, and rock climbing in order to get into the mindset of adventure tourists.
- We also personally met many adventure tourists during their trips conducting over 100 intercept interviews throughout the summer.
- There are also many other people experiencing adventure tourism. So we have established that there are people doing it, but how much is it worth? Introduction: According to a recent report, Laurel County enjoyed almost $153 million in tourism expenditures in 2014. Laurel along with Boyd County were the top 2 counties in eastern Kentucky for tourism expenditures. During the past 3 years, events have been a significant component of our tourism economy. Slide 1. 28 tourism events during 2015. Last weekend in April-October. We play a major role in operating 24 of the 28 events Due to time constraints, we’ll talk about just a few of these
- In the summer of 2014, we went to Abingdon and Damascus, Virginia to see how they were benefitting from their adventure tourism sector. We spent two days in Damascus and Abingdon to experience the Virginia Creeper Trail and to assess the economic value to small independent business owners and hiking and biking trail enthusiasts that represent the confluence of adventure tourism in the eastern United States.
- What we found is that Abingdon, well known for its Heartwood Artisan Center, local food movement, and hand-crafted goods, is very similar to the city of Berea with similar cultural assets but limited exposure to the emerging adventure tourism segments of biking and hiking.
- Damascus serves as the gathering point for the annual Trail Days May festival that draws 30,000 visitors representing the crossing points between the Appalachian Trail and a point along the Virginia Creeper Bike Trail that extends 34 miles from Whitetop Station, Virginia to Abingdon, Virginia.
- EPG students interviewed and observed 24 small businesses in Abingdon to strengthen our observation skills. Nineteen Entrepreneurship for the Public Good Program students traveled along the Creeper Trail experiencing the rental of mountain bikes and pick up shuttle services from Whitetop to Damascus and from Damascus to Abingdon. We stopped for snacks and to interview shop owners and other adventures tourists along the trail to gain insights and ideas that could be used and applied in other communities in planning their own brand of adventure tourism. The students then visited small locally-owned businesses catering to travelers and tourists, including an array of galleries, antique shops, and eateries.
- At the close of the trip, Tonya Triplett, Director of Visitor Services at Abingdon Convention & Visitors Bureau and Kevin Costello, Director of Economic Development in Washington County, Virginia, revealed research and economic impact findings of the benefits that adventure tourism has brought to the community. One of the most valuable pieces of information we learned was the difference between a Creeper and a Barter. When we talk about Creepers, we are referring to the adventure tourists that come to Abingdon to participate on the Creeper Trail. When we mention Barters, we are referring to tourists that travel to Abingdon to experience the historical Barter Theater. However, an insight we learned was that Creepers will Barter, but Barters won’t Creep.
- Dylan-one third of travelers are retired and are traveling no more than three hours away. They are coming from the east and south, but primarily from WV, NC, and TN. However, Abingdon sees very few tourists from the west.
- Fifty six percent of travelers used the internet to plan their trip and on average are staying 2.2 nights.
- On average, a tourist while in Abingdon is spending $337 per day.
- Kevin Costello also revealed to the EPG Cohort that tourists are spending $735 for the trip alone.
- Damascus, Virginia has a population of 1,000. In 1978, prior to the creation of the Creeper Trail and the Trail Days May festival, Damascus’s city revenue was $90,350. In 1985 the Virginia Creeper Trail Opens and the city revenues begin to climb to $250,000 by 1990, and $1,500,758 in 2007.
- Dylan-Damascus’s city revenues still stand strong in 2014 as the community continues to utilize the Creeper Trail to bring in adventure tourists.