Promoting Tourism in DeKalb by John Dersham

Winter is the time for the large travel shows that are held in many major cities during the winter months. These shows give people something fun to do during those cold winter weekends and nights. The shows promote the travel industry. In fact anything to do with taking a trip will be represented there. There are RV sales exhibits, boats, camping supplies, fishing and hunting booths. Our booth will be part of the Tourism and Travel section where exhibitors pitch their venues via conversation, brochures, videos and pictures that will help attract visitors to each area. At most of these shows the Alabama Department of Tourism has a booth, and so does North Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism Association who represents the northern 16 counties in Alabama. I will work at their booth promoting DeKalb County.
The shows we are attending this year will be AAA Vacation Show in Columbus, Ohio, the Indianapolis Travel, RV, Boat and Sport Show, the Southern Women’s Show in Nashville and the She Show in Chattanooga. All of these shows are held in convention centers and are attended by 20,000-40,000 people. All attendees are potential customers to DeKalb County. Attendees are looking around trying to figure out their summer vacation plans. Many will buy boats or RV’s at the show.
Last year approximately 40% of tourism to DeKalb County came from other parts of Alabama, especially Birmingham south. That leaves 60% of our tourists coming from out of state. The areas where we attend shows have proven to be our larger secondary market areas. The states giving us the most business are Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. The tourists from the I-65 corridor coming from the north love our area because we have easy access to mountains, lakes and good weather, all at a low cost to visit. It is also an easy half-day drive for most of them.
We are very fortunate here to have such a large population within a 200-300 mile radius. They have the big populations but they come here because of our rural scenic beauty, mountains, lakes, state parks and national preserve. They come for our cabins, B&B’s, hotels and camping. They come for our great water falls that are rare in most of the states I mentioned above. They come because of a host of things to do in Fort Payne and Rainsville, like the Alabama Museum and Gift Shop and statues in Fort Payne City Park, The Depot Museum, Hosiery Museum, and the N.E. Agri-Business Center and mostly they come to enjoy a low cost, scenic and relaxing vacation.