Tourism Team Tours Toccoa

Local tourism leaders say a visit from a group of state tourism officials last week went very well.

On March 7 and 8, Main Street Toccoa, the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce, and the Stephens County Development Authority welcomed a Tourism Product Development Resource Team from the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

The team consisted of tourism officials in Georgia whose goal was to evaluate Toccoa’s tourism resources, catalogue them, make recommendations, and provide a report, all with the goal of growing the various tourism resources that the City of Toccoa and Stephens County have available.

They visited various local sites, including Camp Toccoa at Currahee, the Currahee Military Museum, the Historic Ritz Theatre, Traveler’s Rest, the Currahee Club, the Currahee Vineyard, and others.

Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce President Julie Paysen said it was awesome to be chosen since only about 8 to 10 communities can receive such a visit each year.

“They were so thrilled to see how well we work together as a community,” said Paysen. “They heard that from a number of different avenues and were so pleased. That is clearly the first step. Secondly, they were encouraged by what we were already doing that they can come along side us and help to further promote tourism in this community. We are looking forward to their feedback and what they have for us.”

Meanwhile, Toccoa Main Street Director Connie Tabor said she also feels like the visit went very well.

“I think we had a great reception with the visitors,” said Tabor. “They were very receptive to the attractions they toured, excited about what they saw, and at the same time, had a vision of what we could do in the future, with that particular attraction. We are very excited about what they have to offer in the way of feedback back to us.”

The resource team will return in approximately three months to present its findings.

Local officials will host a town hall meeting, open to the public, at the Historic Ritz Theatre at the Schaefer Center, to showcase these findings.

Toccoa’s visit by a TPD Resource Team will also place Toccoa in a small pool of cities eligible for special Tourism Product Development grant funding.