In Hard Times People Still Travel by John Dersham

In a time when the unemployment rate is high and the underemployed is even higher, people are still taking trips. Even in bad overall economic times when it seems most all factions of the economy are down, tourism is continuing to perform at a rate well above the economy. There is an inherent desire among most people to get away from the daily routine and go elsewhere. For us in DeKalb County we are very fortunate to have an extremely high level of appeal to leisure travelers from nearby cities that just want to get away from it all for a few days. We are a weekend tourist destination. Due to the fact we are a two-three hour drive for eleven million people we are a great choice for two, three and four day mini trips. The downturn in the economy beginning in 2008 coupled with higher gas prices has contributed to people taking trips of less distance for a shorter time. This has helped us in many ways due to our close distance, low costs, friendly hospitality and an easy place to get around in, once here.
Last week I attended the State Tourism quarterly meetings. These meeting are always very informative and are a valuable tool for staying abreast on current trends in tourism. They help us know what to promote, how to promote and they give us a good sense of forecasting the upcoming year. In the state of Alabama, tourism dollars spent in our state have more than doubled in the last eight years. Much of this can be attributed to Director Lee Sentel and his staff who have consistently engineered award winning marketing programs to lure tourists to our state. Last week Lee told us the State of Alabama has had a fantastic year and the badly affected Alabama Gulf Coast had a banner year.
More and more cities, counties, states and the federal government are placing a lot more focus on tourism as the proof of economic development thru tourism has become an all star. The proof of our successful numbers both in collecting tax revenues and in creating jobs has created a focus by legislators at all levels to find a way to enhance tourism to the United States and to our local destinations.
This fall in DeKalb County has been a banner season. Colorfest in Mentone had its highest attendance in many years contributed by combining the Mentone Areas Art Council and Mentone Area Preservation Association to form a committee headed by Neal Whitt to re-invent the festival. It worked! Beginning in early October and still happening currently, guests to our county on fall foliage vacations is very high. We anticipate stable tourism through Thanksgiving then typically we have a soft time in total but will have good crowds at Cloudmont Ski and Golf resort in Mentone.