
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994                   TAG: 9406240083
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Jeff DeBell NOTE: above
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TOURISTS

There are all kinds if ideas for goosing the Roanoke area's economy, and tourism is among them. Others say retirees are where the money is, especially now that millions of baby boomers are within sight of retirement.

In both instances, the North Carolina mountain city of Asheville is held up as a model against which the Roanoke region is measured.

Skeptics say serious tourism won't work without a big attraction like King's Dominion or the fabulous Biltmore Estate in Asheville.

Nonsense, say tourism iproponents: the Blue Ridge Mountains are a natural draw. Hundreds of thousands of thousands of potential visitors are already coursing along the region's highways. Getting them to stop for a visit is just a matter of proper marketing.

With the tourists will come jobs, they say. Sure, goes the counterargument, but they're dead-end jobs - low in pay and short on benefits.

Tell that to Manuel Calweng, who in a decade has risen from dishwasher to head chef at Holiday Inn. Deadend is barely in his vocubulary. He loves the tourist industry.

While less populous than Roanoke. Asheville spends more than twice as much to attract tourists. It also pushes itself as a retirement community. Blacksburg has started to do the same thing. Roanoke hasn't, but that didn't stop Bob and Lou House from leaving the congested Northeast to spend their retirement years on 6 quiet acres in Roanoke County.

"I'll sign an endorsement for the Chamber of Commerce anytime," Bob House, a former RCA engineer, said.

by CNB