Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau brings jobs and income to region

ALBANY — Located in the historic antebellum Bridge House at 112 Front St., the Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau is charged with shining up the city’s image — and helping bring in tourism dollars.

“’Heads on beds’ is what we’re always thinking here,” said Kristen Schuette, manager of marketing and communications at the the CVB, “and, of course, that fills our restaurants and gets the visitors shopping in our stores.”

To accomplish their goals, four full-time, and five part-time employees of the CVB work to entice outsiders to come to the Good Life City and its surrounds. That means bike races, canoe and kayaks trips, family reunions, celebrity tours, constant promotion of existing attractions, and more. In late January, Schuette was busily planning the annual marathon and half-marathon coming up in March.

“It brings in around 2,000 people,” Schuette said, “It’s a very small community and it spreads, so now we have runners coming from places you never could imagine — from five different countries last year.”

Sponsored by M&M Mars, the Albany Marathon is among the top 10 qualifying races for the Boston Marathon and has attracted increasing attendance as runners spread the word about the flat course and the city’s down-home Southern charm.

Of course, runners have to eat and sleep, and many bring their families, who look for entertainment in the course of their visit.

“For the last race, we had 1,700 volunteers,” Schuette said. “I gotta tell you, when you’re running 26 miles, just a little thing of seeing somebody sitting there with a cowbell or a pompom and saying, ‘Wow, you’re doing great’ … that really makes a difference.”

The CVB also is working with the Southeast Regional Series cycling competition coming up in May. Georgia is the representing state for the region, which also includes Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina. Cyclists turned out in record numbers for the 2014 Albany race, Schuette said.

“I think it doesn’t hurt that we have a biking community already in Albany, The Pecan City Peddlers,” Schuette said, “Plus we have two bike stores in town.”

When planning their promotions, CVB officials consider one of the region’s greatest natural resources — the Flint River. Schuette says the new canoe and kayak launch on the Flint at Turtle Park gives people an opportunity to paddle their canoes, see downtown and nearby attractions, and then have lunch or dinner at a restaurant.

Schuette said the CVB is working now with Josh Lorber, owner of Kayak Attack Adventure, a new kayak rental company, to make it easy for novice river-goers to experience the river and see more of the city.

One great source of summer income is the family reunion trade, Schuette said, with groups sometimes numbering hundreds of family members. The CVB arranges for motor coach transportation and helps make the event as easy and pleasant as possible.

Increasingly, visitors enjoy the informality and ease of an “app” tour, such as the Paula Deen Hometown Tour, where simple step-by step instructions take the viewer to 12 Paula Deen locations, including the church where she was married and the high school she attended.

Alternately, a visitor might opt for the popular African-American Heritage Tour, Schuette said, or the Sherwood Movie Tour for an Internet-directed guide to local spots seen nationally in movies like “Courageous,” “Flywheel,” “Fireproof” and “Facing the Giants.”

“Between the zoo, the symphony, the art museum, the RiverQuarium, the Civil Rights Museum and all the other things, there’s an incredible lot to see and do right here,” Schuette said. “You’re not going to get a freedom singer anywhere else. This is the only place in the world.”

The CVB has even latched on to a generic type of regional magnetism Schuette calls “agritourism,” where visitors from other states are shown interesting agriculture-based attractions like White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Still Pond Vineyard and Winery in Arlington, or even Mark’s Melon Patch just north of Albany.

“You’d be surprised how many people come in and ask to see a cotton field,” Schuette said. “They just love it.”

The CVB is the Visitor Information Center for the Plantation Trace Region, one of nine such regions in the state, Schuette said, that includes Valdosta, Tifton, Thomasville and Bainbridge.

According to CVB figures, in 2013, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, led by director Raschelle Beasley, helped generate $213.86 million in direct tourist spending in Dougherty County, which generated $6.33 million in local tax revenues and supported 2,020 tourism jobs.

The CVB is funded by area hotel/motel tax, Schuette said.

Turning to area attractions, Chehaw Park continues to promote its well-known zoo, and a variety of traditional and innovative activities throughout the year.

In March, the Lou Thompson Memorial Trail Ride is planned, and its past popularity has sparked an effort to bring public horseback riding into the family of Park activities.

“We’d like horseback riding to be as common at Chehaw as bicycles are already,” said Doug Porter, Chehaw Park director.

The Annual Catfish Rodeo takes place in April, said Chehaw Public Relations Manager Morgan Burnette, as well as the ever-popular Native American Cultural Festival, the Cheetah Chase Run and Party for the Planet, where people have cake and park animals enjoy special treats.

Later in the year comes the Through the Zoo Run, Walk on the Wild Side, Festival of Lights and more.

There’s some new fun coming up this year at the Flint RiverQuarium, said Marketing Manager Wendy Bellacomo, starting with a “touch tank” of tide pool habitat to be installed in the main lobby of the building.

In addition, an educational gardening and composting project will be added at the back grounds of the facility. An audio tour of the RiverQuarium is also in the works, said Bellacomo.