"What an experience! What an opportunity!" Washington-Wilkes' new Director of Tourism attended the Governor's 2006 Conference on Tourism in Columbus last week, and says she learned things and met people that will help attract more of Georgia's $28 billion tourism industry to our area.

"When I met Georgia's Commissioner of Economic Development Craig Lesser, I made sure he knew that I was from Washington-Wilkes and I told him all about what we have and what we can offer," Ashley Turner said. "And I've told everybody else I met, from Governor Perdue on down."

And it wasn't just the high-level contacts she made that will help bring visitors here, she said. "I met so many people from the state and from the media who can benefit us here in Washington-Wilkes. And now I'm going to make sure everyone I met will come and visit Washington and see what we have to offer. Word of mouth is the easiest - and cheapest - way of advertising and marketing."

The three-day conference schedule was packed with informational workshops designed to help counties grow their share of Georgia's second-largest industry, but it was the opportunity for building personal relationships that Turner expects will pay the greatest dividend for Washington-Wilkes.

"When I wasn't in workshops, luncheons, or dinners, I was networking with people from the state level, from other cities and counties, people from advertising, marketing, and printing companies, and editors of magazines," she said. "They all heard what's wonderful about Washington, and why they should send tons of visitors here."

She networked with tourism representatives from all over the state, too. "I enjoyed hearing other people's stories and what works in their communities. I also learned all the ways state agencies can help us here, if we'll just ask for it. The state has great resources, and we should capitalize on them and use them to our advantage."

During a workshops given by Craig Lesser and his deputy, Dan Rowe, Turner says she gained insight into the direction Georgia's tourism is headed.

"Georgia is in the Top 10 markets in the United States for tourism - Georgia is the eighth most popular state in the U.S. More than 62 million visitors visited Georgia from out of state in 2005. The tourism industry in Georgia jumped by $2 billion last year. At 28 billion dollars, it's second only to agriculture, and it's growing fast."

The economic development leaders, she said, said that Georgia's goals for the tourism industry were to retain our current out-of-state visitors, to increase the share of Georgia residents' travel; to convert 5 percent of pass-through travelers into overnight stays; to increase the numbers of international visitors by 10 percent; to introduce Georgia to non-visitors; to continue measuring awareness; and to continue to measure visitor demographics and travel behavior. But the biggest impression she left

the conference with, Turner said, is how important the tourism industry is to the state of Georgia and each citizen in every county. "In today's global economy, factories and jobs are going to come and go. But tourism puts paychecks in the pockets of 217,000 Georgia workers, and I want every dollar and job we can get to come to Wilkes County. That's the bottom line."