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Tennessee is the No. 1 state for motorcoach travel in 2009.

The designation comes from Byways Magazine, a bimonthly publication aimed at motorcoach charter and tour planners. It means the state is projected to have more motorcoach travel in 2009 than any other state.

Helping attract motorcoach travel are the Smoky Mountains, Bristol Motor Speedway, the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, music attractions in Nashville and Memphis and the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.

Following Tennessee in the 2009 projections are Virginia, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania.

Nashville Aficionado; episode 5 is coming

The new episode will be released this Friday, January 9. Be sure to check it out and see more interesting things about Nashville.

See you in the videos...
Corey

Agritourism Conference in Tennessee

The 2009 Tennessee Agritourism Conference is set for Jan. 26-27 at the Chattanooga Marriott and Convention Center.

“This conference has become a ‘must attend’ event for many of the state’s most serious agritourism farmers, who continually upgrade their professional skills and their farms’ attractions,” says Pamela Bartholomew, agritourism coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

“For aspiring agritourism farmers, the conference is a way to begin to assess whether they and their farm operations are well suited to this new farm business. New or prospective farmers get the chance to spend lots of time with experienced operators who can share plenty of useful stories and ideas. That makes getting started less costly in terms of time, dollars and anxiety.”

The term agritourism refers to the increasingly popular part of the agriculture industry that involves inviting the public directly onto the farm for activities or farm products.

Read the entire story in the Southeast Farm Press.

New state law gives Metro authority to hike hotel tax

Thanks to a newly passed state law, the Metro Council will have the authority to raise the city’s hotel tax 50 cents per room to create a tourism development fund designed to attract and keep major events.

This year, the state Legislature approved and Gov. Phil Bredesen signed into law a bill that permits Metro to increase its hotel privilege tax from $2 to $2.50 per occupied room.

The estimated $2.5 million to $3.5 million raised from that 50-cent increase will go into a Music City “Event and Marketing Fund,” which will be used for promoting tourism.

Walt Baker, the chief executive officer of the Greater Nashville Hotel & Lodging Association, said the new fund must go toward major events that have at least a $5 million economic impact on the city, such as the upcoming CMA Fest.

Read the complete story in the Nashville City Paper.

Just inside the Country Music Hall of Fame

21C Hotel and Museum in Louisville, Kentucky

The 21C Hotel and Museum in Louisville, Kentucky is a beautiful and funky place that is a lot of fun for all ages and has some great, unique art. The entire place is art.

photos courtesy of Andrea

The Louisville Slugger Museum Was a Hit!

Everyone had a great time.

Photo courtesy of Andrea

Walking the Mighty Mississippi River

Tired Tourists Traveling in Vegas by way of Scooters

There's lazy, and then there's Las Vegas lazy.

In increasing numbers, Las Vegas tourists exhausted by the four miles of gluttony laid out before them are getting around on electric "mobility scooters."

Don't think trendy Vespa motorbikes. Think updated wheelchair.

Forking over about $40 a day and their pride, perfectly healthy tourists are cruising around Las Vegas casinos in transportation intended for the infirm.

You don't have to take a step. You don't even have to put your drink down.

"It was all the walking," 27-year-old Simon Lezama said on his red Merits Pioneer 3. Lezama, a trim and fit-looking restaurant manager from Odessa, Texas, rented it on day three of his five-day vacation, "and now I can drink and drive, be responsible and save my feet."

The Las Vegas Strip is long past its easily walkable days. Casinos alone are nearly the size of two football fields. That doesn't count the hotel rooms, shopping malls, spas, convention centers, bars and restaurants.

And that's just inside. For tourists who plan to stroll from one big casino to another, there are crowds, construction sites and long stretches of sun-baked sidewalks between.
A tourist could accidentally get some exercise.

"We're seeing more and more young people just for the fact that the Strip has gotten so big, the hotels are so large," said Marcel Maritz, owner of Active Mobility, a scooter rental company whose inventory also includes wheelchairs, crutches and walkers.

Most of those using the scooters are obese, elderly or disabled. But many are young and seemingly fit.

The number of able-bodied renters has grown in the past few years to represent as much as 5 percent of Maritz's business, he said. The company, which contracts with some casinos, has a fleet of about 300 scooters.

"It makes it a lot easier for people to see everything," he said.

At full throttle the scooters open up to about 5 mph, though crowded sidewalks allow little opportunity for such speeds. They can go anywhere wheelchairs can — elevators, bars, craps tables — but are banned from streets. They come with a quick operating lesson, an instruction booklet, a horn and a basket.

"At first, I figured it was for handicapped people, but then I saw everybody was getting them. I figured I might as well, too," Lezama said.

Las Vegas has other transportation options, although each has its problems. The Strip is regularly clogged with cabs and drive-in tourists. A double-decker bus system, dubbed the Deuce, often gets stuck in the mess. A $650 million monorail with stops at eight casinos has been plagued by poor ridership, perhaps because it runs behind the resorts, well off the Strip and out of sight.

Police and casino workers often use bicycles.

Some find the notion of using a device intended for disabled people unethical.
"It's the same principle as parking in a handicap spot," Mike Petillo, 64, a disabled tax accountant who recently visited from New York City.

Several hotel bell desk workers — who handle most of the rental requests from tourists — said they try to discourage people who do not appear to need the scooters from renting. But refusing the self-indulgent is not really an option.

"You can't really discriminate against anybody," said Tom Flynn, owner of Universal Mobility. "We don't require a prescription or an explanation of why they need it."

Michelle Bailey, a slender, apparently healthy 22-year-old, used a scooter to get around a recent pool tournament at the Riviera hotel-casino. "Four-inch heels," she explained with a laugh, pointing to her lipstick-red pumps.

But Troy Burgess, a 21-year-old optician visiting from Detroit, said he considers it "immoral" for an able-bodied person to rent wheels. And not only that, but "you probably wouldn't pick up too many chicks on that scooter."

Agri-Tourism in Tennessee? Hmm...

By Jim Beller

How to make more money on your farm was the basic thrust of an "agri-tourism" meeting held Tuesday at US Bank by the Tennessee Small Business Development Center.

"You're not going to make it in tobacco anymore," said Ken Givens, Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture and longtime farmer. "You're going to have to have diversity to make things go. It's time for something like agri-tourism."

Agri-tourism is a state initiative to help farmers increase their income by adding tourist-attracting programs and to expand tourist income within rural communities.

Letting people pick their own produce or work the fields, enjoy hay rides, corn and hay mazes, music festivals, pumpkin patches and petting zoos are some of the things farmers do to get those visitors. "Anything that brings people to the farm to experience agriculture," said Pam Bartholomew, Agri-Tourism Coordinator for Tennessee.

Those reasons could be a desire for peace and tranquility, interest in the natural environment, nostalgia for rural heritage, rural recreation and inexpensive getaways. For example, Ritter Farms, located between Bean Station and Rutledge, is hosting one of its many music festivals.

"Bluegrass on the Farm" on July 28 will feature musical guests Larry Sparks, The Seldom Scene, Blue Highway and Walk Softly.

Read the full article in the Rogersville Review newspaper

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Sow & Tell

Agri-tourism takes root in Dickson County as farmers branch out

The tourism aspect of agriculture has played a vital role in maintaining the industry’s bottom line.

When Dickson County farmer Steve Shafer told his wife he wanted to turn their Three Creeks Farm into a tourist destination, she was skeptical.

“My reaction,” says Beth Collier, “was, ‘Yeah right, who’s going to pay to go to a farm?’ ”

But after hearing more, Collier was convinced, and in 2005, the couple began offering tours of their 56-acre farm seven miles north of Dickson.

At Three Creeks Farm, visitors can touch and feed the animals, which include exhibition chickens and pheasants, Cashmere goats and registered Icelandic and Shetland sheep.

They also can learn about blacksmithing, demonstrated by Shafer, and spinning, demonstrated by Collier. During such heritage tours, the couple dresses in 19th-century costumes and allows visitors to hammer on the forge or spin with a hand spindle.

Read the entire article in Images of Dickson

150 from Nashville visiting Baltimore, D.C. on study mission

Nearly 150 local business and community leaders left on a trip to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Sunday on a joint leadership and study mission.

"There is a real value in making these trips to see what other cities are doing," said Ron Samuels, vice chairman of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and visit co-leader in a news release.

"When we take into account the best practice of other cities and incorporate them into the Nashville area, these visits become a community development tool. This is because tangible results are impacted and produced, such as the development of the downtown Nashville Public Library and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center."


Visit the Nashville Business Journal for the rest of the story