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Tourism Happening Now

Across the nation, more and more communities are waking up tourism’s impact on their economies. It is not hard to see. Tourism brings many positives for any community open to welcoming it.

Tourism happens when outside dollars are spent inside the community. For example, when someone living in Tennessee spends their money in Georgia (or vice versa), it is tourism. Dollars that previously were not in the community are now circulating inside the local economy; which helps explain why many refer to tourism spending as “new money.”

Based on research by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, “The tourism industry in Georgia is the 5th largest employer in the state with a total economic impact of $53.6 billion, supporting more than 411,000 jobs, or 10.2% of all payroll employment in Georgia. Taxes of $2.8 billion were directly and indirectly generated by tourism in 2013. Each household in Georgia would need to be taxed an additional $770 per year to replace the tourism taxes received by state and local governments.”

Tourism provides a number of benefits to communities. Tourism . . .
Supports existing businesses
Increases the tax base
Diversifies the tax base
Creates jobs
Boosts appearance
Enhances quality of life
Leads to more tourism

Historically cities have not viewed tourism as an economic generator, but through the years that thinking has changed. When examining tourism’s potential and benefits to the community, it is hard to overlook as an important component of economic development.

Tourism is a conglomerate of many different businesses — hotels, restaurants, gas stations, museums, shops, festivals and events, arts, and any other reason for those who do not live here to spend their time and money here.

All of these reasons summed together are what makes a community a destination.

Canton has a great deal of attractions and the list runs long. For example, we have: the Canton Theatre, the Cherokee Arts Center, the Cherokee County History Museum and Visitors Center, our First Friday Series, Farmers Markets, Movies in the Park, our historic downtown, Canton Marketplace, Riverstone Parkway, the Northside Hospital-Cherokee Conference Center, the nearby Georgia National Cemetery, and our numerous parks and greenspaces, which now includes the 81-acre Etowah River Park.

Summed up: this ever-increasing list tells us that tourism is already happening in Canton.

As citizens, it is up to us to support our existing touristic venues by patronizing them and spreading word to others about the great services and programming we already enjoy here.

On a macro-scale, the Cherokee County Chamber is leading the way for county-wide tourism via Destination Cherokee — combined efforts of cities, downtown programs, and existing tourist attractions to formulate strategies, programming, and resources to cohesively attract and plan for more tourism in Cherokee County, together.

This serves to erase any and all doubt that we are and will continue to be a city and community where tourism happens and is certainly welcome. Fortunately enough, we have already awakened to this exciting reality.

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