Georgia Tourism Product Development Resource Team Returns to Tift County January 20, 2015

ATLANTA, January 12, 2015 – The Georgia Department of Economic Development announced today that Georgia Tourism's Product Development Resource team will return to Tift County on Tuesday, January 20, 2015, to present its findings to the community. The Tourism division's resource team is a statewide initiative that provides communities with the resources needed to identify tourism product and increase visitor activity throughout the community. The meeting is open to the public and will take place at the Tift Theatre in Downtown Tifton at 6 p.m. 'We are excited to return to Tift County to present a suggested strategy based on the observations and research from our initial resource team visit this past summer," said Bruce Green, Director of Tourism Product Development at the Georgia Department of Economic Development. 'The team spent time with community leaders exploring possible cultural tourism opportunities that will be critical to Tift County's continued progress and success.' Following initial staff visits, Tift County was selected by the Georgia Tourism division to participate in this initiative, which focuses technical assistance in the form of a reconnaissance and strategy visit to a local community interested in developing its tourism potential. The representatives from multiple state agencies who are part of the resource team will return to the community to discuss their findings and their assessment of the tourism assets related to heritage and cultural tourism, nature-based tourism, agritourism and retail development. The final report is a 30-month strategy for initiating the development of a tourism-based economy in Tifton and Tift County. The report will include the potential for utilizing cultural and heritage tourism district zoning, downtown development programs, and historic preservation and economic development tools. 'Everyone in the community is invited to attend this town hall style meeting to discuss tourism and growth in our great community,' said Tyron Spearman, Executive Director of the Tifton-Tift County Tourism Association. 'Please share this with your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. Let's all join together to grow this town!' For more information contact Tyron Spearman, Executive Director, Tifton-Tift County Tourism Association at [email protected] or 229-382-8700. Or, Emily Murray, Georgia Department of Economic Development at [email protected] or 404-962-4078. About GDEcD The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is the state's sales and marketing arm, the lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, locating new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia, and promoting the state as a destination for arts events and location for film, music and digital entertainment projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. www.georgia.org