Roswell Celebrates Tourism

When you hear the word Tourism, what comes to mind? For some, it’s the last trip they took to some far off exotic location. For others, it might be a memory of pretending that you were not related to your dad as he walked down a sidewalk dressed in a brightly-colored shirt, plaid shorts, white socks and brown sandals, with the family brownie camera on a strap around his neck. Yes, that is Tourism, but I’m talking about something much closer to home.

Every time you see license plates from other states and counties as you drive into a restaurant, store, hotel or attraction parking lot in Roswell you are seeing tourism at work. It’s that wonderful economic engine that brings people in from other places to enjoy all that we have to offer.

With Georgia positioned as a premier travel destination, Tourism is the 5th largest employer in Georgia with a total economic impact of $45 billion, supporting more than 391,000 jobs, or 10.4% of all payroll employment in Georgia. If that wasn’t excitement enough, Tourism is the second leading revenue producing industry in the state. All of that revenue translates to a state and local tax savings of $706 for each Georgia household. With that much of an impact, it’s easy to see why we LOVE tourism in Roswell.

January 24th was the 2012 Tourism and Hospitality Day at the Georgia State Capital. Together with the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Convention and Visitors Bureau and Chambers of Commerce professionals from around the state of Georgia, Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association members, as well as attractions and arts entities converged on the Capital to celebrate all that Tourism means to the state.

With so much for tourists (and of course our residents, too) to see and do in Roswell, the Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau was excited to participate in this annual event. With a theme of T.I.E.D. – Tourism is Economic Development, our legislators were reminded of the incredible benefits of tourism to Roswell and the entire state of Georgia.

As part of the festivities, the 2012 Georgia Travel Guide was unveiled, featuring Grammy Award-winning group Lady Antebellum on the cover. In addition to printed copies being available at the state’s eleven Visitor Information Centers, the guide is online so I just had to check it out. It was exciting to find all of the places in the Guide where folks can find out about Roswell.

Get Those Taste Buds Revved Up

We all know that Roswell has a wide selection of unique restaurants, right? What, you didn’t know? Where have you been?

My mouth is watering just thinking of the possibilities. From BBQ so good that it’s hard not to eat it multiple times a week to sandwiches made from bread and meats cooked on premise, daily, to mouthwatering steaks and salmon to vegetables cooked the good old country way to unique French and Italian dishes to new takes on Mexican and Thai dishes to you name it, Roswell has it all.

To showcase Roswell’s wide variety of yummy choices, a group of Roswell restaurants teamed up to create the First Annual Roswell Restaurant Week from January 14-22. The nine-day promotion will showcase the outstanding cuisine of the area’s best restaurants that will each offer a prix-fixe, three-course menu consisting of an appetizer, a main course and a delicious dessert for $15 and $25 per person excluding alcohol, tax and gratuity. Can you say bargain and yum in the same sentence?

www.roswellrestaurantweek.com has all of the details plus a list of participating restaurants.

After writing about all of this food, I just may have to get a jump on Restaurant week at lunch, today. I’m headed out to www.visitroswellga.com/restaurants.html to check my options, right now.