The summit, sponsored by the

Tourism Development Alliance of Georgia and made up of business and public

sector leaders from across the state, goal was to highlight the importance

of tourism to Georgia's economy and develop a game plan on how to increase

funding for an industry that benefits the entire state. Summit roundtable

sessions were held where attendees collaborated on strategies to increase

tourism's influence within the state.

A few influential leaders who

made opening remarks and spoke on summit panels included: Bo Callaway,

Sr., Callaway: Gardens, Resort, Preserve; Helen Fincher, Chairman of the

Georgia Hospitality & Travel Association; RK Sehgal, Commissioner,

Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism (GDITT); Janis Cannon,

Deputy Commissioner of Tourism, GDITT; Bill Hardman, Jr., Southeast Tourism

Society; Neely Young, Georgia Trend; Robin Spratlin, Georgia Power; J.T.

Williams, Killearn; George Fischer, Callaway: Gardens, Resort, Preserve;

Abit Massey, Georgia Poultry Federation; Phil Jacobs, Bell South; Kent

Buescher, Wild Adventures Theme Park; and Nancy Cobb, One Georgia Authority.

The summit highlighted the

significant economic impact the tourism industry has on a wide variety

of businesses throughout the State. Robin Spratlin with Georgia Power

said her company supports tourism because it directly affects their customer

base. "It is a quality of life issue. It is critical to bring in

industry. They (customers) want to know the things to enjoy recreationally

and culturally." Spratlin stated they have 24,000 customers in the

tourism category, representing 24 percent of their commercial revenue

and 8 percent of total revenue.

J.T. Williams with Killearn

Inc. says tourism influences his real estate development company for some

of the same reasons. He stated that residents of his high-end residential

communities first discover the area as a tourist. They visit several times

before deciding to purchase. The tourism attractions and amenities are

an important consideration in their buying decision.

Phil Jacobs, President of BellSouth's

Georgia Operations, said he supports Georgia's vibrant tourism industry,

which represents traffic to his company. "Minutes on the network

are like occupancy in a hotel - unused capacity is like vacant guest rooms.

The amount of traffic generated by tourism in the state is tremendous."

Jacobs continued by saying, "a strong tourism industry is directly

related to successes in furthering economic development activities all

across the state, which in turn benefits businesses like ours. BellSouth

has and will continue to work hand in hand with the State in promoting

Georgia because tourism and economic development are important to us all."

Bo Callaway, Sr., Chairman

Callaway: Gardens, Resort, Preserve, wrapped up the message conveyed throughout

the summit when he said, "tourism is economic development and you

should never speak about economic development without talking about tourism."

Top issues addressed during

the summit included protecting the hotel/motel tax for tourism promotion,

partnerships between the tourism industry, the business community and

elected officials, and rallying legislators to allocate more funding to

GDITT for tourism promotion.

For more information on the

Tourism Development Alliance or the results from the Georgia Tourism Summit,

contact the Alliance at (800) 437-2416 ext. 23, or on-line at HtmlResAnchor

www.tourismdevelopmentalliance.org.