Summer 2023: Tourism Development Newsletter
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UACED realizes the importance of arts, culture and history, its preservation, and the strength it has in drawing visitors to our region as immersive tourism. Utilizing nature- and heritage-based tourism as an important economic development strategy, UACED works with Alabama communities to assist them in displaying their assets. With tourism playing a prominent part in the state’s overall economy, UACED’s Tourism Development Program brings together the many cultural, heritage, rural, public lands and arts constituencies under the economic development umbrella to unify efforts to promote natural, cultural and heritage tourism.
2021 saw an increase of 26% in visitors to the state, amounting to 28.2 million people who spent $19.7 million. That year, the state's 4% lodging tax sent $72.6 million to the General Fund.
Alabama Tourism Economic Impact Report, 2021
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Visit our Sweet Home Murals for a taste of art,
culture, and a love of Alabama
Our love for Alabama shines through the Alabama Mural Trail. The goal of the Alabama Mural Trail is to provide the state of Alabama a sense of community, to drive economic impact, and to bring people together. By inventorying and promoting murals statewide, UACED hopes to encourage both locals and tourists to find someplace new and discover the beautiful art Alabama has to offer. The trail currently encompasses nearly 300 murals throughout 60 of Alabama’s 67 counties.
We want the mural trail to be a way for communities of all sizes to market their area and to draw tourists to less-visited areas. Public art crosses all boundaries (socio-economic, racial, language, etc.), encourages creativity and builds a sense of community—all things that many smaller communities struggle with.
So far, our team has inventoried over 800 submissions; developed a website www.alabamamuraltrail.org; worked with Public Art Archive to create a digital listing of the murals; hired a professional photographer for Phase I murals; designed, printed and distributed 10,000 rack cards throughout the state; and designed, produced and distributed trail markers to tourism partners to place near the murals.
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Alabama Mural Trail Passport
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The Alabama Mural Trail is getting a passport! UACED is working with Bandwango to develop a passport where you can earn rewards for visiting murals across the state of Alabama. This passport will increase access and traffic to destinations in Alabama that are off the more traveled path, driving economic impact to some of the more rural areas of the state. Fill out the form to reserve your mural passport as soon as it becomes available at www.alabamamuraltrail.org/passport.
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Check out some of the murals on the trail in
Alabama Small Towns and Downtowns'
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Sit a spell and enjoy Alabama’s Front Porches
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“Alabama, they say, is like one big front porch where folks gather on summer nights to tell tales and to talk family. Everybody, they say, is kin to everybody else―or knows somebody who is.” - Kathryn Tucker Windham
Local treasure Kathryn Tucker Windham has inspired many things from Tale Tellin’ Festivals, ghost walks, Haunted History Tours, the Alabama Ghost Trail and even regional tourism websites. The Alabama’s Front Porches website, inspired by the quote above, highlights all the incredible activities that are available in rural southwest Alabama. UACED is redesigning the website with a new layout, updated images, customizable tour itineraries, birding opportunities, and food finds just to name a few.
This update will help to create opportunities for increased visitation and tourism through marketing efforts, partnerships between counties and communities, tourism trails, and destination highlights. This redesign will feature improved navigation that captures the feel of the region. The new website will provide resources and marketing materials for the region to encourage visitors to come and to stay longer. Utilizing a wide range of community outreach, partners will help UACED update the listing of their county tourism amenities and link those opportunities to support tourism businesses on a regional level. With continued development in organization and planning, the extensive selection of historical, cultural, and natural resources available in the region will build a sustainable economic initiative that will attract travelers and build economic expansion and support for the region.
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Tourism Development Along the I-22 Corridor
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We’ve been working with leaders in Fayette, Lamar, Marion and Winston counties to develop a future vision for the region. After regional strategic planning and for each of the counties, we noticed that tourism development was a huge need across the area. Our team developed a Tourism Plan for the region and is currently working with a Tourism Development Committee to continue planning. We designed and printed four regional rack cards that are ready to distribute later this summer. A regional tourism website and itineraries are in development. Learn more about the project at www.i22al.com
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TOURISM WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
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Flawless delivery training develops hospitality workers
into tourism industry professionals.
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The hospitality industry has felt lasting impacts from the pandemic on all levels. Hotels and other attractions are finding it difficult to attract and retain good workers. If employees can be found, turnover is very high. Properties and attractions are so short-handed, new employees are often getting only a single day of training before being sent to the floor. General managers are cleaning rooms while brand-new employees try to handle incoming guests. Clearly, the area would benefit from training specific to the hospitality industry.
Originally developed with mentorship and guidance from Tami Reist and Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association, and currently in partnership with Pam Swanner and Alabama Black Belt Adventures, Holistic Performance Group’s Flawless Delivery Hospitality Certification program provides a foundation for service that increases employees' sense of self-worth and their value to the company. This experiential workshop brings hospitality employees together for a two-day training, including an overnight at a local hotel to be certified in Flawless Delivery©. Participants will also enjoy dinner at a local eatery that will include Tina Jones’ Four Course Hospitality Training and local speakers from the industry.
Participants learn essential communication, conflict resolution, empathy, and interpersonal skills needed to deliver Flawless hospitality that supports individual career development as well as the industry’s growth. Delivered in a fun and supportive learning environment, the program includes many tools for increasing resilience and retention in the rapidly growing and changing hospitality industry. At the end of the first year of this training, UACED and the team will have assisted over 250 hospitality industry partners in the opportunity to receive this training that can elevate the hospitality industry from just a paycheck to a career. Learn more about the program and request a training to come to your area at www.uaced.ua.edu/flawless-delivery.
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Four Course Hospitality Training as part of Flawless Delivery Certification in Walker County
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Explore Alabama's Birding Trails
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It’s the Year of Alabama Birding and there’s a whole world of wonderful sights and sounds waiting for you here in Alabama. All you have to do is look and listen. With 280 sites covering Alabama from the mountains to the gulf, the Alabama Birding Trails provide a roadmap of the best public lands to watch the birds. Over 430 different bird species have been spotted in Alabama. Come see what you can find! Get out and explore! Plan your adventure at www.alabamabirdingtrails.com. Share your Birding experience using #AlabamaBirding or #yearofalbirding.
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As part of the Year of Alabama Birding tourism campaign, UACED prioritized site audits for all the official birding sites of the Alabama Birding Trails to ensure our visitors receive the best experience possible. The audits consist of in-person visits to each of the 280 birding sites by consultants to evaluate signage conditions, clean existing interpretive signage, recommend new signage locations, evaluate ADA accessibility requirements, identify outdoor classroom capabilities, and update photography. The consultant will complete the site audits in June. UACED will next replace and update signage where needed. This signage creates a wayfinding system to help visitors more easily navigate the eight regions that make up the Alabama Birding Trails.
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280 sites can be found in eight geographic regions that make up The Alabama Birding Trails
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Become a Birding Ambassador
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From the mountains to the coast, Alabama has a great deal of birds and bird enthusiasts. But how can we share this enthusiasm with others? We’ve selected bird lovers from around the state to serve as volunteer Alabama Birding Trails Ambassadors. A Birding Ambassador is someone who is passionate about birds, and who loves sharing that passion with others. They might be distributing birding materials throughout their region, leading bird tours and walks, educating about birds, talking with journalists about the birding opportunities in this beautiful state, writing for the birding trails program, posting on social media about birds, or attending birding events. When it comes to all things birds, our ambassadors have it covered.
Through a grant from the Alabama Tourism Department, UACED is launching the ambassador program in 2023-2024 to promote the Year of Alabama Birding. We’d love to have an ambassador from each region in our program; we’re still missing ambassadors from West Alabama and the Piney Woods regions. Know someone who would be perfect? Tell them to apply. Please coordinate all ambassador questions and requests through Erin Hackenmueller at erin.hackenmueller@ua.edu.
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The University of Alabama Center for Economic Development (UACED) was founded by Dr. Malcolm Portera and approved by the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System in 1989. It serves as an economic outreach unit to access UA resources, expertise, and existing UA centers and programs to assist businesses, organizations, and state and local communities to help solve real world problems and grow the state's economy. The Center continues that tradition today by utilizing professional UA staff and customized project teams to provide technical assistance to communities, agencies, and organizations. It takes an asset-based planning approach to help communities and organizations respond to challenges and capitalize on a variety of economic development opportunities for growth.
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621 Greensboro Avenue
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
Phone - 205.348.7058
Fax - 205.348.6974
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