Raising tourism awareness

By Jean Martin | Selma Times-Journal

Published Sunday, August 30, 2009

SELMA — The Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce is 156 years old and has been a member of the United States Chamber of Commerce since 1917. It has been housed in the former Carnegie Library since 2003, offering multi-purpose advantages to the city and the county.

Webster’s Dictionary identifies a tourist as “one that makes a tour for pleasure or culture.” Tourism itself is defined as “the promotion or encouragement of touring.” In Selma, the Chamber of Commerce serves as the center for tourism and business information in the city and Dallas County.

“We also serve as the business and business information for Selma and for Dallas County,” said Chamber of Commerce Director Sheryl Smedley. “Recruiting retail is an important mission of the chamber, one that is much easier when there are things to do and places to see available for families.”

For Wayne Vardaman, Centre for Commerce president, “Tourism is an integral part of economic development in the city and the county.”

Chamber Tourism Director Candace Johnson sees her job as “not only to promote tourism through the city, state and nation, but also worldwide. People do not always understand and recognize the resources in Selma and Dallas County that support tourism.

“From the Alabama River flowing by our town, to the vast fowl, fish and game preserves, to the fascinating Black Belt history of this region — the resources are here. In addition, there is a newly acknowledged tourism resource for sporting events such as golf, fishing and hunting,” she said.

Smedley said these factors give an economic boost to restaurants, hotels and motels, museums and gift shops, but visitors must be aware of these resources. The Center for Commerce recognizes the importance of communication in spreading this information.

According to Johnson, this is done by Web sites publishing monthly calendars of events and through “social media” such as Twitter, My Space, Facebook, Selma’s Blog, YouTube and Alabama’s Ghost Trails, which shows videos of haunted locations in Dallas County.

Information is also readily available through calls to the chamber, where receptionist Judy Kleitsch responds to the constantly ringing telephone at the entrance desk to provide answers. The chamber directory is being updated and will be available soon.

The Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce also has a reference library of brochures, one of the most colorful and useful tools in tourism and business recruitment. Eye-catching displays on either side of the chamber’s double-door entrance have colorful arrangements of the latest brochures as well as favorite older ones. At present, there are about 25 brochures on display advertising museums, annual events, special attractions, ancestry research, an antiques guide and the popular windshield tour guide.

The most recent is Selma: Historic Places and Social Graces, which is sent in response to requests from the chamber’s Southern Living ads. Other ads are published in Reader’s Digest, Alabama Living and other magazines. Brochures are on file in local and state welcome centers.

As part of her tourism responsibilities, Johnson plans bus tours: setting itineraries, making hotel reservations if requested and completing entire packages for visitors. For the upcoming Haunted History Tour Oct. 16-17, six packages have been sold already, she said.

“We are reaching farther and farther to promote and support tourism.”

The recent Chamber Business After-Hours gathering at the newly-opened First Cahawba Bank was “successful and enjoyable,” according to Smedley, who added “so much so that we plan to have it quarterly.”

And in another service to the community, the chamber doors are open to a number of meetings by committees planning special events for this Black Belt area. Pick up a brochure or read the calendar of events on the Web site for more information.

Visit selmaalabama.com, then click on chamber and the calendar will come up.

If it doesn’t, just call 875-7241.

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