Tourism Product Development Award
The info kiosk at Exit 76 in a state of disrepair.
Hinesville, GA-March 21, 2016—The Liberty County Convention & Visitors Bureau (LCCVB) announced that it has been awarded $5,000 by the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) Tourism division to fund the Gateway Heritage Rehabilitation & Renewal Project.
The project will rehabilitate and revitalize the two gazebos constructed at Gateways to Liberty County back in the mid to late 1990’s. The large information kiosk will be updated to reflect the Liberty County of 2016. The needed repairs and construction improvements will include a dog waste station and cigarette litter receptacles, in addition to updating the information in the kiosk. New marketing materials will highlight the African-American heritage, specifically the Civil Rights heritage of Liberty County, as well as local festivals that celebrate music such as Blues & BBQ and Ricefest.
“We’re very pleased to have been awarded this grant, and we’re thrilled that these two gazebos will now provide a welcome to travelers and encourage them to explore our community,” said LCCVB CEO Leah Poole. “We especially want to thank the Liberty County Development Authority for their help in obtaining the grant, as well as KLB for their donations to this project.”
The grant money will refurbish the gazebo to provide visitors a place to rest.
In an effort to further tourism product development within the state, Georgia Tourism offered this inaugural grant to communities who participated in the department’s Tourism Product Development Resource Team program. The Tourism Product Development Resource Team program works to evaluate a community’s potential for tourism growth and development through innovative, unique experiences based on a community’s local culture and heritage.
“The Tourism Product Development Resource Team has streamlined its initiative to assisting our communities with funding, which is one of the greatest needs in fortifying tourism product development in Georgia,” said Cindy Eidson, Director of Tourism Product Development for the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “By providing initial funds to projects that we help inspire, we are jump-starting tourism economic development across the state, helping to not only grow Georgia’s tourism offerings, but also creating new jobs and sustainable economic development in each of these communities.”
Since creation, the tourism resource team program has served 31 counties, cities and projects around the state in areas ranging from agritourism to downtown development. LCCVB is one of 13 communities awarded funding. This funding allows the local community to build new product resulting from the recommendations made by the Tourism Product Development Resource Team members or projects the community has developed as an expansion of the original resource team report.
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, aligning workforce education and training with in-demand jobs, locating new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia, and promoting the state as a destination for arts and location for film, music and digital entertainment projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. www.georgia.org
Call 912-368-3580 or email tourism@libertycounty.org for more information about tourism and hospitality in Liberty County.
