County's Wine, Heritage Top Tourism Priorities

By Cara McCoy

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Loudoun tourism officials said Wednesday they plan to focus on the county's heritage sites and 15 wineries to help strengthen the county's tourism economy.

The Loudoun Convention and Visitors Association briefed business and community leaders on its five-year plan to help make Loudoun a hub for tourism in Northern Virginia. LCVA president and chief executive officer Cheryl Kilday said she hopes not only to lure national and international visitors, but also residents from around the mid-Atlantic region.

"We want people to stay here and go to Antietam, or stay here and go whitewater rafting in West Virginia, or stay here and go places in the District," Kilday said.

Representatives from Salamander Hospitality, Raspberry Falls, Lansdowne Resort, the Dulles Marriott, Journey Through Hallowed Ground, Claude Moore Park, Breaux Vineyards and Tarara Winery were among those who attended the briefing at Lansdowne Resort on the LCVA's plans for its "tourism destination strategy."

The strategy, which was adopted in 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a five-year plan intended to guide marketing, promotion and product development of Loudoun's tourism sector.

Kilday said tourists who stay overnight in Loudoun provide greater financial benefits to the county than day-trippers, in part because of revenue generated from hotel taxes.

"When visitors spend money here and they don't earn it here and don't pay taxes on it already, then it has more of an impact on the local economy than you and I do," she said.

Other goals include lengthening "visitor seasons" to make Loudoun attractive to tourists in all months of the year, improving visitor infrastructure, and, ultimately, increasing the amount of money visitors spend in the county.

During Wednesday's meeting, LCVA officials said key focus areas for fiscal year 2009 include promoting Loudoun's equestrian facilities and wineries, as well as focusing more heavily on Loudoun's heritage sites ahead of the Civil War sesquicentennial in 2011.

The LCVA plans to experiment with marketing Loudoun as "the capital region's wine country," in hopes that the Washington area will embrace Loudoun's wineries much like San Francisco has adopted Napa Valley, Kilday said.

"From our standpoint, we think people are going to be traveling less than 3,000 miles for their vacations," said Tarara Winery sales director Heather Akers. "They have something to do right here that will give them at least as good of an experience -- if not better -- than flying to Napa or Sonoma, because [they are] expensive. I think the nature of the economy is helping people to make different decisions about where they're going to spend their time."

Fellow winery representative Chris Blosser, of Breaux Vineyards, agreed.

"The roads are converging here -- we have a great destination here, and the LCVA's been really proactive in recognizing this," Blosser said. "We can all work together in the county to really and truly make it a market destination."

Other objectives for fiscal year 2009, which begins July 1, include improvements in "way-finding," or increasing signage that highlights tourist destinations, expanding the county's tour shuttle, developing online multimedia that promotes the county and attracting more sporting events.

Prem Devadas, president of Salamander Hospitality, said the proposed initiatives of developing the county's wine and history themes were "right in step" with the under-construction Salamander Resort in Middleburg. He suggested the LCVA consider adding a shopping initiative, saying: "I know it's a lot more fun to shop in Leesburg or Middleburg during Christmas than at a mall."

The LCVA, which works with businesses and local community leaders to develop tourism plans for the county, will present its recommendations to the Board of Supervisors in June.

Tagged: business_news, horses, tourism, wine

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