State Team Presents Findings of Tourism Study to Quitman-Brooks County

ATLANTA, May 25, 2010 — Brooks County's historic and cultural resources may be the key to cultivating increased tourism, a delegation from the Georgia Department of Economic Development told community leaders today. The Tourism Resource Team from the Georgia Department of Economic Development presented the findings of its inventory of local tourism assets, and recommendations for future strategies, to the community at a meeting held at the Historic Walker Street School.
Representatives from three state agencies, a regional commission and a non-profit told the crowd of more than 100 people that Brooks County has considerable historic and cultural resources, which currently may be undeveloped, but hold potential for expanding tourism as an economic engine within the county.

The team members offered to work with local leadership to assess the community's portfolio of tourism-related assets in the areas of heritage, cultural tourism and agritourism. In addition to an inventory of resources, the report included an 18-month strategy for initiating the development of a tourism-based economy in Quitman and Brooks County, utilizing potential tools including cultural and heritage tourism district zoning, downtown development programs, historic preservation, and economic development tools such as opportunity zones.

Quitman and Brooks County were selected in the fall of 2009 by the Tourism Product Development Office to participate in a new initiative launched by the state's Tourism Division to give technical assistance to a local community interested in developing its tourism potential. The Tourism Division is housed in the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD).

The Quitman-Brooks County leadership has planned a community wide organizational meeting for June 1, 2010, in downtown Quitman to discuss a vision for community-initiated tourism and to call for volunteers to share in the responsibilities of achieving the steps and goals outlined in the report. For information on the event contact Lauren Basford at 229-305-7822 or [email protected].

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 location for film, music and digital entertainment projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development.