Columbia, SC Celebrates National Travel & Tourism Week
Friday, May 6, 2011 12:00 AM
Kelly Barbrey
803.545.0018
advertising@columbiaauthority.com
Columbia Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau encourages you to "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town"
COLUMBIA, S.C. - (May 6, 2011) - Columbia Regional Visitors Center (Columbia, SC)
joins hundreds of cities, states and travel related businesses nationwide in
recognition of National
Travel and Tourism Week, May 7-15, 2011. Designated by
Congress and established by presidential proclamation in 1983, the event
celebrates the value and scope of the nation's $759 billion travel and tourism
industry, and its economic and social contributions. National Tourism Week is
an annual event organized by the U.S. Travel Association, aimed at
promoting the power of travel, enhancing the country's economy, and informing
the public of the cultural and social benefits of travel and tourism.
"This week in Columbia
we will celebrate the people who visit here, the workforce that provides
service for them and the development created as a result. Travel and tourism
generates $1 billion in direct spending, brings in three million visitors to
our region each year and provides more than 65,000 jobs to the region," said
Ric Luber, president and CEO of the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports
& Tourism, the supervising authority of the convention and visitors bureau,
visitors center, sports council and convention center.
Hotels, meeting facilities, attractions, restaurants, shops, and transportation
providers are among the local businesses greatly impacted by travel to our
region. The industry supports the jobs of nearly one in 10 South
Carolinians and provides every household in the state $691 in tax
savings annually.
In celebration of tourism and its impact on the community, Columbia
Regional Visitors Center encourages locals to "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town"
and explore all there is to see and do in Columbia,
S.C. with events, promotions and
special offers throughout the week. Event highlights include a stop at Columbia
Metropolitan Airport to honor airport employees and welcome visitors on Monday;
"Funky Chicken Day" with Ernest Lee, featured in the latest issue of Southern
Living, at the Visitors Center on Tuesday; "Cab Driver Appreciation"
recognizing local cab drivers with a free boxed lunch from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00
p.m. at the Visitors Center, Fort
Jackson Family Day welcoming friends and families of soldiers, and a "Famously
Hot and Cocky" promotion at the South Carolina Gamecocks baseball game all on
Wednesday; and even a chance to have your picture taken with the Travelocity Roaming Gnome, who recently
toured South Carolina, on
Thursday. A full list of events is available at columbiacvb.com/ntwevents.
For more information about National Travel and Tourism Week activities and the
"Be a Tourist in Your Own Town" initiative in Columbia, S.C.,
visit columbiacvb.com/ntw.
About Columbia Metropolitan Convention &
Visitors Bureau
The mission of the Columbia Metropolitan
Convention & Visitors Bureau is to strengthen is to
strengthen the area's economy by marketing and selling Columbia, its accommodations, restaurants,
facilities and attractions as a destination for meetings, conventions,
tradeshows, special events and leisure travel. For more information, visit columbiacvb.com, "like" Columbia, SC
on Facebook and "follow" @columbiasc on Twitter.
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