The Cumberland Gap Region Tourism Association (CGRTA)was established in May 2016 as a Tennessee 501c6 non-profit membership corporation. The purpose was to link tourism efforts in conversation and collaboration between the ten counties within a 25-mile radius of the Historic Cumberland Gap in the three states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. A director, Carl Nichols, was chosen and a board of directors was established, consisting of tourism directors, chamber of commerce directors, educators, historians, and advocates for tourism and community development. Every county within the Cumberland Gap Region is represented on the board by at least one board member. These outstanding community leaders had one mission in mind, that of: "Making history, natural beauty, art, music, adventure, and the Appalachian experience come alive by making the Cumberland Gap Region a destination that tourists will drive to... not drive through."
Through the leadership of our director and the board of directors, the tourism departments in these ten counties began collaborating on tourism events, attractions, and community development and sharing their lessons learned with the other counties in the region. By sharing with others and connecting the dots from one county to another the CGRTA has grown into a clearing house of knowledge and experience. The association feels that by sharing this knowledge among our represented counties it serves to make the region stronger and more attractive to tourists who will shop, play, and stay in the Cumberland Gap Region.
To achieve our mission of making the Cumberland Gap Region a "vacation destination," we know that we must follow an aggressive marketing plan throughout the region, the three inclusive states, and the entire nation. We are doing this through print media, electronic media, personal speaking appearances, providing information booths at tourism events, and through radio and television media.
We have been working in collaboration with the Boone Trace Project and the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park to help bring the newly established US Bike Route 21 from Atlanta, Georgia to Columbus, Ohio through four of our represented counties. This bicycle route will bring riders from all over the Eastern United States through our region.
We have worked with both the Middle East Tennessee Tourism Council to promote events along the newly re-established East Tennessee Crossing Byway, as well as, the Campbell County mayor's office in support of Highway 63 being designated as a US Scenic Byway. We also have representation on the Lakeway Civil War Preservation Association for the advancement and preservation of historic sites, including the General Longstreet Civil War Museum, and other historic sites throughout East Tennessee.
During the period of tourism shutdown, due to the Covid Pandemic, we have served as a conduit for the dissemination of information from the tourism leaders in our ten counties about the reopening of tourism attractions and events within our region.
We have worked in collaboration with both the Friends of the Wilderness Road State Park in Ewing, Virginia and Friends of Boone Trace to promote historical events, lectures, and reenactments that highlight and promote the rich history of the Cumberland Gap Region.
Since mid-spring, following the covid restrictive period, we have promoted the Cumberland Gap Region by setting up information booths at the Campbell County Chamber of Commerce Vendor Fair, the ribbon cutting for the "Bike Share Program" in Cumberland Gap, which was made possible by a Tennessee Health Grant of which our director sat on the health grant committee. We also provided an informational booth at the student orientation day for Claiborne County's own Lincoln Memorial University School of Veterinary Medicine. There we had the opportunity to discuss the many attractions and adventures available within our region to hundreds of first-year vet students from all over the country.
One of our mission's taglines is "All trails begin or end in Cumberland Gap." A member of our board works for the Tennessee Department of State Parks and is working to develop the new 300 miles Cumberland Scenic Trail State Park that will run from Cumberland Gap through eleven East Tennessee counties to Chattanooga. He learned that the director of tourism in Pennington Gap, Virginia was in need of informational assistance on how to develop a hiking trail that would run from Pennington Gap and connect with the Wilderness Road State Park in Ewing, Virginia. These two are now collaborating and sharing information in order to get the Pennington Gap Trail up and going. Upon its completion, Pennington Gap will be connected with the Cumberland Gap which will then be connected with both Chattanooga through the Cumberland Scenic Trail route and with Boonsboro, KY through the Boone Trace Project. We are excited to be an organization with such talented and knowledgeable board members that can help attract tourists to our region by connecting the dots from one of our counties (and states) to another.
In 2018 the CGRTA established the "Region Strong Awards." These awards are presented annually at our awards ceremony to community leaders, businesses, groups, or organizations chosen by the CGRTA board of directors that have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make their communities a better place in which to live, work, and play. We feel that through recognizing these outstanding community leaders we will inspire others to become involved in tourism and community development within their county and communities. Our board of directors feel that "strong communities build strong counties and strong counties build a strong Cumberland Gap Region." Through this public recognition we have inspired at least two grassroots organizations within our region to organize and develop tourism events and activities within their own communities. i.e., "Guardians of the Gap" in Cumberland Gap and "Revitalization of Downtown Pennington Gap, VA." To promote this year's awards ceremony, our director appeared on WBIR-TV Channel 10 in Knoxville as well as on local radio stations.
In 2020 we established the annual "Bill McGaffey Memorial Region Strong Award" in memory of the late Cumberland Gap mayor who passed last year from Covid. This award is presented to an individual, business, group, or organization that through their tourism efforts, they are not promoting just a single community or county, they are helping to bring tourism to the entire Cumberland Gap Region. We were proud to present this first annual award to Dr. John Fox, President of the Boone Trace Project for his extensive efforts in tracing and developing the exact route that Daniel Boone took from Kingsport, Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap to Boonsboro, Kentucky which runs through four of our region's counties. Dr. Fox is also the driving force behind the development of US Bike route 21, which also runs through four of our region's counties.
In 2018, we established the "Judy Barton Memorial Tourism Scholarship" This scholarship goes to a high school senior from any high school within the Cumberland Gap Region. The recipient is chosen by the board of directors from essay submissions on the topic of "how does tourism impact the economy of the Cumberland Gap Region." The scholarship is presented annually at our awards ceremony.
Our most effective means of promoting the Cumberland Gap Region is through our website. The opening page of our website provides links to the chambers of commerce and/or tourism departments located within the Cumberland Gap Region. This gives every visitor to our website the opportunity to explore the tourism opportunities available in all of the ten counties that comprise the Cumberland Gap Region.
On our webpage is an extensive calendar of upcoming events. This calendar of events is compiled from submissions received from chambers, tourism boards, state parks, activity coordinators, festival directors, event venues, concert promoters, etc. within our region. At all regional events, we distribute postcards with our email information. Anyone can send an email request to be added to our database in order to receive our weekly email newsletter and calendar of events. Every week our email newsletter goes out to thousands of subscribers all across the United States.
Another means of driving visitors to our website, is through advertising in a national tourism magazine. For three years we have purchased a full-page ad quarterly in "Southern Travel and Lifestyles Magazine." This publication is available both in print and electronically. Each quarter, more than 500,000 subscribers see our promotion of the Cumberland Gap Region.
With four rivers, four large recreational lakes, thirteen golf courses, one national historical park, two state resort parks, seven other state parks all surrounded by the unsurpassed beauty of the Cumberland Mountains and picturesque valleys serenaded richly by music, art, and the Appalachian culture and heritage, there is no other place on Earth that can compare with the Cumberland Gap Region of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia.
As a founding member of this organization, a current member of the Board of Directors, and a past president, it is my honor to nominate the Cumberland Gap Region Tourism Association to be recognized as the "Destination Marketing Organization of the Year."
Respectfully Submitted,
Nita Louthan, Past President and member of the CGRTA Board of Directors