THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 17, 1995 TAG: 9505160145
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
JULIE GRIMES HAS now seen it all everything Isle of Wight County has to offer.
From the placid fields of crops just beginning to peek out of the ground, to the marshes and creeks of the Pagan and James rivers, to a working cotton gin and historic sites all over.
Grimes was one of three state tourism officials who spent two days last week visiting the county for Capstone, the fifth and final step of the Virginia Tourism Accreditation Program.
Capstone is the site evaluation ending nearly 18 months of work by the county's tourism department, which will get a report from the state critiquing the local effort.
``I'm getting more and more phone calls from travel writers who want to know about places in Virginia that are off the beaten path,'' said Grimes, editorial services manager for the state Department of Economic Development's Tourism Division. ``This was a great opportunity for us to experience the attractions and the people of Isle of Wight.''
The county's graduation from the accreditation program is pending the state's approval of the county's tourism marketing plan, said L. Meriwether German, community services manager of the state tourism division. He expects that approval within the next two weeks.
Once approved, Isle of Wight will be recognized on official Virginia state maps and brochures as an accredited tourism spot.
Increased attention from the national travel media should be the biggest benefit for Isle of Wight County, county tourism director Diane Howard said.
``I'm hoping the state will be directing more national travel writers in our direction. Their stories will draw more tourists . . . and that, in turn, will generate more revenue for the county.''
Over the last two years, Smithfield's historic attractions have been profiled in several national magazines, including Colonial Homes, Southern Living, Country Living, Chesapeake Bay and the Washington Post Magazine.
And within the next two months, another article that includes photos of Main Street and Historic St. Luke's Church is expected to be published in Southern Living, Howard said.
``These articles have generated a lot of interest in visiting Isle of Wight County.''
The county's most popular attraction, St. Luke's, recorded 18,000 visitors in 1994, up just slightly from 1993. But the number of tourists registering at the visitors' center doubled, from 4,000 in 1993 to 8,000 in 1994.
``I think a lot of people who have been in previous years went home and talked about it,'' Howard said. ``I also believe there is a growing trend for tourists to stick more to rural, quiet areas instead of the more metropolitan cities.''
The accreditation process is designed to teach communities how to capitalize on their tourism assets. With the state's help, localities can work toward getting a larger share of $9 billion the tourism industry brings into the state each year, tourism division spokeswoman Martha Steger said. Tourism is Virginia's largest industry.
``A lot of small localities feel they have something worth promoting but have never had experience with marketing,'' Steger said. ``We teach them the basic steps of marketing their communities.''
While visiting the county, Grimes and her colleagues were treated as though they were a travel writer and tour operator. They visited all the local attractions: St. Luke's, the visitors' center, historic Fort Boykins. They were wined and dined at nearly every restaurant in town. Local businesses donated overnight accommodations.
But before reaching Capstone, the fifth and final step in the accreditation process, the county had to successfully complete several other qualifications.
The first step leading to Capstone requires a locality to create a tourism organization, hire a coordinator and garner its local government's financial support. That department, once established, must then produce a detailed tourism situation analysis.
``The situation analysis is really a self-study for the community to inventory its assets and assess its own competitive situation in the marketplace,'' Steger said. ``That's when it decides how it wants to promote itself.''
In the third step, the locality begins to act on its public relations ideas, she said. The locality's tourism board visits state tourism development groups in Richmond, publishes brochures of local tourist attractions and a calendar of events, opens a visitors' center and creates a photo and slide library for use by the state and travel writers.
In addition, the department develops a detailed marketing plan for tourism in that locality.
The fourth step leading to Capstone involves getting the community, businesses and residents to embrace tourism by giving them an active role, Steger said. This happens with the formation of a tourism/business visitation team. The local tourism department devises a public awareness campaign and works with local businesses to form a hospitality program.
So far, six localities have received the state's stamp of approval: Lexington, Roanoke, Bedford, Winchester/Frederick County, and Orange and Nelson counties. by CNB