Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 12, 1992 TAG: 9201130244
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
STATE BOOST
DRIVING down the interstate, you may have seen the white-on-green signs outside some Virginia counties: "a certified business location."This means the locality has met strict state standards about physical facilities, public services, etc., that make it an attractive and fit location for business. It also means the state will route industrial prospects to such places.
Obviously that's useful to the locality. But just as important is the shaping up it must do to earn certification. A community has to meet 31 different requirements, including developing 100 acres of usable industrial land, complete with water and sewer lines.
All of that calls for self-examination, maybe some introspection, and not a little commitment.
Those things don't come easy. Neither do tourist dollars. Which is one reason to applaud the ongoing Virginia Tourism Accreditation Program, based on the same reasonable ideas that produced the business-site certification effort.
To be sure, the program is no substitute for a strong commitment by the state itself to promote tourism (missing), or for strong regional and local commitments to do the same (also missing). But it may have the effect of encouraging some localities to embark on such a commitment, which is a good thing.
State officials are traveling around explaining the program now. There was a workshop in Dublin the other day for representatives of Montgomery, Pulaski, Giles, Floyd, Wythe and Washington counties, and the cities of Radford and Galax.
Later this year, the state will single out 12 Virginia communities - two each from six regions - for tourist accreditation. They'll get special listings in state travel directories, news releases about their attractions, state aid in advertising themselves, recognition in state welcome centers, and state efforts to send media tours and travel writers their way.
Localities are being encouraged to seek such recognition on a regional basis. The Lenowisco Planning District is working on such a plan, and the New River Valley is considering it.
There are evident economies of scale in this kind of cooperation - and also the common-sense recognition that tourist attractions tend to group themselves in regions, without respect to municipal boundaries.
At the Dublin meeting, Kitty Ward, public-information director for Wytheville, wondered whether the program's benefits would be worth the effort of qualifying.
True, the effort is not picayune. It includes having a tourist-promotion organization, visitor-information and -reception center, a tourism analysis and improvement plan, a program for existing tourist facilities, and providing brochures, events calendars, community profile, a slide and photo library, directory of attractions and services, and a comprehensive marketing plan for tourism promotion.
In the time it takes to put all that together, said Ward, she could be out promoting Wytheville. And, of course, there's no guarantee Wytheville would get marquee status as one of those 12 communities.
No. But Wytheville, or any other locality that met the state standards - or even most of them - would have an improved basis for boosting itself. It would be better acquainted with its tourism assets and better prepared to tell others about them.
The effort of meeting the standards should, in itself, involve and energize more of the community. And, by working with other municipalities in the area, costs could be shared and a degree of regional cooperation achieved that would pay dividends in respects besides tourism.
Only one can win a foot race, said St. Paul, but all should run so as to win. Recognition is only one of the rewards for that.