Bedford News
Bedford Plans Contest For National Tourism Week
The Bedford Office of Tourism is sponsoring a contest in recognition of National Tourism Week (May 10-18, 2008) to draw attention to the importance of tourism on the national, state and local economy. The “National Tourism Week Contest in Bedford, Virginia” encourages individuals to visit at least five sites in the Bedford area for clues which can be collected for a chance to win a gift basket of items that represent a range of items produced in Bedford or representative of area sites. The contest runs from May 10 through May 18 and contest forms are available at the Bedford Area Welcome Center located at Routes 460 and 122 (816 Burks Hill Road). The Welcome Center is open seven days a week from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM.
Contest participants are being encouraged to collect clues at such sites as The National D-Day Memorial, Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, The Bedford City/County Museum, The Bedford Academy for the Arts, Art on Depot, and all five wineries that comprise The Bedford Wine Trail: Hickory Hill Winery, Peaks of Otter Winery, Savoy-Lee Winery, LeoGrande Vineyards and Winery and White Rock Vineyards and Winery.
“Tourism is important to the area’s economy,” according to Sergei Troubetzkoy, Director of Tourism for Bedford City and County, adding that Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) figures indicate that the tourism industry “generates expenditures in Bedford County and in the City of Bedford of approximately $74 million annually.” Troubetzkoy added that the VTC figures also show that Bedford had a tourism payroll of $17,369,832 in 2006 with 1,080 people employed by the travel industry and local tax receipts that are generated by tourism amount to $ 2,377,043 and state taxes collected as the result of tourism in the Bedford City and County area amount to $ 3,680, 897 for 2006
