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Tourism jumped 9.0% in Adair County in 2006 Growth rate in latest year in the tourism economy in Adair County was 36% higher than the state average. The movement is in the right direction. For a three year period County was slightly below the state growth rate. Now Sue Stivers sees two new goals for Adair County tourism in sight: 1) An annual growth rate of $1 million, 2) Annual tourism topping $10 million for the first time ever, in 2007. And she has a tourism wish which isn't at all modest By Ed Waggener A ColumbiaMagazine.com story from interviews with Sue Stivers, Director Columbia Adair County Tourism Commission Tourism in Adair County increased 9.0 percent in 2006. For the year, $9,345,389.00 was added to Adair County's economy, according to new statistics released by the Kentucky Department of Tourism. That's up from $8,475,724. "That put our growth last year at over $820,000," Columbia-Adair County Tourism Executive Director Stivers said. And it gives the local tourism commission two goals for 2007. "We want to see the tourism business pass $10million annually," she said, "and we want to see our annual growth rate reach $1 million a year." They are both in sight, Stivers said. "You have to like the direction our numbers are moving in." In the Lake Cumberland Area Development District, Adair ranks 5th According to Sue Stivers, the numbers are indicators of tourism's impact to Adair County. Stivers noted, while Adair County's tourism dollars are lower than some neighboring and LCADD counties, the growth rate is impressive, and growing in importance. "If the entire economy of Adair County had grown the way tourism has," she said, "we'd be in a absolute boom time." "We've worked hard in Adair County to attract more visitors to the area," said Stivers. "We're now capitalizing on two great strengths," she said. "One is the natural beauty of Adair County. But it's just as important a factor that we have the best, most unselfish leadership in Adair County that we've ever had," she said. "In tourism," she said, "that's an unbeatable combination." She sees more growth in the future. "It's hard to pinpoint everything that is happening here that means so much to building tourism income," she said. "Our big events, like the Adair County Fair," she said, "just keep growing. Large meetings at Lindsey Wilson are increasing in number, frequency, and size, showing the need for a convention center. And there are more highly publicized small events that mean there's something going on in Adair County every night. "These small events can't be overlooked," she said. "When people travel to Adair County for a special event, whether it's a family pig roast, a church fish fry, or a family reunion," she said, "that builds the economy."The Chamber of Commerce has been better and better at handling requests for information in all areas of visitor information. "We've gotten much better at getting the word out about Adair County." She also pointed to help from the state. "Randy Fiveash, the Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Tourism is a major help to us. He wants to do whatever it takes to get more people to Adair County. Others playing major roles, she said, are CJE Ann Melton and Adair County Government and Mayor Pat Bell and the Columbia City Council. "They are getting our roads, bridges, and streets in better shape," and their efforts in cleanup mean more to the tourist economy than most people know," Stivers said. "I learned how much that means with my service on the Lindsey Wilson Board of Trustees and my association with Dr. Begley. He led the way. He showed how churches can build congregations, the college could grow enrollment and get higher gift income, just by having the highest standards of maintenance," she said. "People are really taking his message to heart. His symbolism of The Brass Rail standard reached so many people," she said, alluding to the shiny brass handrail at the L.R. MacDonald Administration Building, which is emblematically kept shined to a soldier's belt buckle gleam. Dr. (Bill) Luckey is carrying that tradition on so well," she said. She also gave credit to the Columbia-Adair County Chamber of Commerce. "I've never seen anything like the spirit they have. I've never seen such optimism about Adair County. And that has to be credited to the chamber and it's outstanding leadership." Stivers credits the continuity of the community's best leaders taking turns, taking time from their successful businesses to share their talents with the the Chamber. "You couldn't have created a better leader in a laboratory than Richard Phelps was as President. "Today, we've got a gem in Darrell Overstreet, who is so unselfish. He says he doesn't care who gets the credit, just so long as it gets done. "And next year, there will be new energy with Donna Stotts as president. Leadership," she says, "is the key." She also credits Rep. Hal Rogers' brainchild, SEKTDA--the South and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association with helping Adair County tourism through regional efforts.. "We have to look at the region as a whole," she said. "Russell and Taylor County have tourism economies more than three times what ours is today. We hope they keep growing, too. The more people who come to those counties, the more likely they are to spend some time--and money--with us, too." "It's the same with the Heartland Parkway. When I brought John Chowning back home to Lindsey Wilson College to speak to the Chamber, it didn't matter that he came from his job at a rival school or that he came back as the driving force behind the Campbellsville Miracle, he came back telling us that, on the Heartland Parkway Project, it isn't a Campbellsville Project or a Lebanon Project or a Springfield Project or a Columbia Project. He told us it was a regional project and that he didn't care if Columbia, Lebanon, or Springfield benefitted more than Campbellsville. He said we all would benefit when it becomes a reality." I was so proud to have brought him home to Columbia to bring that message. "You know," Stivers said, "I agree with him, even though he may have been preaching to the choir. Adair Countians are thinking regionally now more than ever. She said that may be because more and more they are seeing that Columbia will play a very central role in regional patterns. "That may be why so many are seeing the need to be team players. "Just think," she said, "what the Heartland Parkway will do for our $10 million dollar tourist economy." She said she was pleased when so many Adair County endorsements came for her friend Luke Schmidt's request to endorse the Elizabethtown Airport's efforts to get regular air service. "The Chamber endorsed the regional effort, and so did the county, the city--five Adair County organizations in all, I think. And we got the same support from our local leadership when Somerset wanted help to get the big lab," she said. "That's not a tourism thing," she said, "but the airport is and it will help." Biggest improvement will come at no cost. It just a matter of education, she says There is no subject Sue Stivers won't stop talking about, and it is the cheapest path to tourism success.It's hospitality education. "We are friendly people," she said. "People will do anything for you. But if there is a shortcoming, it is in knowledge of the community, of what we have here."Every Adair Countian ought to make it a point to know what we have here. "If a person pulls onto the Square and asks how to get the the birthplace of Ed Diddle, 'I never heard of him' is not a good answer," she said. "If they want to get to Begley Chapel," she said, "any Adair Countian ought to know the answer or know at least to send them to the Chamber office or the library if they can't look up the hill and point them to Lindsey.."She tells the story of asking a book dealer in Crossville, Tennessee, if she had any Janice Holt Giles books. "The women said, 'Lord, Honey, I wish I did. I could sell every one I get.' and the woman went on to say that if I liked the books, I ought to go up to a little town in Kentucky, a little place named Columbia, and visit her log house out in the country. But she told me that if I went, I ought to get directions before hand. The book store owners said she went to Columbia and spent two hours finding directions before a fellow in bib overalls sent her to the Chamber office. The woman said it was a beautiful town and the Giles House was beautiful. She asked me where I was from but I managed to change the subject. I wasn't about to tell her I was from Columbia." Stivers said that when she left, she thought of covering her Adair County license plate, she was so embarrassed. We've got to change that. We've got to make every Adair Countian a community greeter. We need every wait staff, every service station worker, every citizen knowledgeable of what we have here, and how to give tourists directions when they ask. Stivers occasionally gives talks on the subject. She would like to see employers sponsor classes which would be required study before front line people are allowed to work with customers. b Stivers says we need more hotel rooms, restaurants Columbia has needs she says. One immediate need is more hotel rooms. "I get calls in here from groups who want 75-100 rooms," she says. "We don't have a hotel with that many rooms right now altogether. If we get a new hotel with that many rooms, we'll bring groups in like the motorcoach group which called and wanted me to book a hotel with 75 rooms and parking space to handle it." "We've got to get a bigger airport," she said. "The intersection at the parkway and 61 is going to be one of the most important ones in America. The Super Wal-Mart will be here. I'm confident in Richard Lee enough to believe it's coming. Shoot, there are a few who still don't believe the bypass is coming even as they nearly get run down by a earthmover building it!" "We need to expand facilities for entertainment. We have a gem, a magnet in the Columbian Theatre. The Dream Depot could just grow into the kind of draw "Daniel Boone" was to Harrodsburg. That new show they have, the one people are comparing to 'Greater Tuna,' is the kind of thing that would have tourists coming in weekly. The college needs a new theater, one which it can share with the community. I see entertainment as a major component of a thriving tourism economy." "Adair Countians are finally thinking big. Our leaders are asking for more and getting it. We have to dream big and ask for more. I'm so fond of the statement I hear my friend Robert Flowers who says, 'If you are getting everything you ask for, you're not asking for enough.' I want us to think big. "Who knows, with Columbia's prime location at a major crossroads of the Eastern United States, what all could locate here. Nothing is too far-fetched as far as Columbia is concerned. Five years ago, nobody thought we'd get a Super Wal-Mart. Now its months from a reality. I don't want anyone to say Columbia can't get anything, whether it is the Eastern By-Pass, a Holiday Inn, or even a Cabello's or Bass Pro Shop." "If we do say the sky's the limit, in a year or two people will be laughing at my goal of a $1 million a year tourism growth." "And, you know what?" she said, "that won't hurt my feelings a little bit!" Data used in this story from Sue Stivers, quoting from Kentucky Department of Tourism sources This story was posted on 2007-07-20 12:04:00
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