Rob Carnegie – Florence/Lauderdale Tourism Board Executive Director
FLORENCE – Rob Carnegie addressed the Florence/Lauderdale County Tourism Board Thursday at a special ‘called meeting’. He discussed his plans for expanding “Sport Tourism“. Sport Tourism refers to travel which involves either observing or participating in a sporting event staying apart from their usual home-town environment. Sport tourism is a fast-growing sector of the global travel industry and equates to $7 to $8 billion. That’s according to Wikipedia. And Carnegie wants to zero-in on it.
Some examples of Sport Tourism that most people are familiar with are, the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup… the Olympics… It’s acknowledged that these world-class events probably won’t be seen in the Shoals anytime soon. But Carnegie says that we have so much to offer; from world-class fishing; a beautiful, modern baseball / softball facility, just recently completed out on Gunwaleford Road; and a proposed huge tennis complex in Veteran’s Park. These sorts of events and facilities bring in thousands of people every year, and he thinks that it’s time to ‘pour on the coals’.
Florence Lauderdale Tourism Board
Carnegie acknowledged the work by Susie Shoemaker on the new emphasis. He told Board members that already this year, she has made over 40 in-person calls to event planners in several states.
In a related move, the Board, headed up by David Muhlendorf, approved $15-thousand to begin working on plans to move forward the new tennis facility blueprints and permitting.
