RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Washington-Wilkes named finalist in 'Top 10 Places to Retire in Ga.'
Retire in Georgia magazine will announce the winners of the 10-best competition in their Fall/Winter 2007 issue, which will be available in September, Duke said, as he addressed the club on the economic impact of retirees on Georgia communities. "It's tremendously satisfying to know that communities like Washington Wilkes are providing attractive and diverse lifestyle options for the 50-plus market," said Duke, co-founder and editor of Retire in Georgia. Duke, a principal research associate at Georgia Tech, told the Kiwanis club members that the economic impact of the 78-million member Baby Boom generation on retiree housing, healthcare, and eldercare makes these strategic industries for the foreseeable future. He described the market as "50- plus," not only retirees but empty nesters and others whose means allow them freedom. He said communities are wise to reach out to those people, because the typical couple moving into Georgia into one of the new communities - like the Del Webb development near Lake Oconee, for instance - brought a great deal of skills, education, successful business experience into the community, and the community benefits. Duke's years of Georgia Tech research has shown that retirees also bring a demand for services that creates jobs, he said. "Each couple makes the economic impact of two to four manufacturing jobs. For the development at Lake Oconee, that creates the equivalent of 1,700 manufacturing jobs." The new "retirees" are also a skilled workforce and are not finished being entrepreneurs. "They've been educated, successful, and they've achieved," he said. They're so active and successful, in fact, that the newer retirement communities, he said, are more like active adult resort communities with a high level of amenities and standards, and they are attracting retirees with money. The numbers of people being attracted to Georgia as a retirement destination is growing. Already the 8th most popular state for retirees, Duke said that due to hurricanes, the cost of living and taxes, "Georgia might become the next Florida for retirees." Duke passed out copies of the new publication Retire in Georgia, which is distributed through some 40 state and regional Visitor Information Centers, plus Chambers of Commerce, county governments, economic development, and business organizations. Washington- Wilkes is an active contributor to the magazine and the web site, RetireInGeorgia.com.
Washington-Wilkes Tourism Director Ashley Barnett was also a guest of the Kiwanis Club, and expressed her surprise at being chosen a finalist. "I'm so honored that Retire in Georgia recognized what a great place Washington and Wilkes County is for the new active retirees," she said, "and I hope the attention brings us more 50- plus folks. They bring so much to the community."
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
