Thursday, May 27, 2010
By D.A. WILKINSON
LISBON
A new group has created a new brochure to lure tourists to Columbiana County.
But what happens next is up to bus-trip operators from outside the county, according to Lori Kline.
She is one of the founders of the newly formed Columbiana County Tourism Community and the executive director of the St. Clair Township Travel and Tourism Bureau.
Columbiana County officials and citizens have tried over the years with little success to market the county’s attractions.
The new tourism committee is composed of members of the county’s four tourism offices in Salem, Columbiana, St. Clair Township and East Liverpool, and Chamber of Commerce representatives from Lisbon, East Palestine, Hanoverton, Leetonia and Wellsville.
The group also came with a slogan: “Discover Columbiana County — A Whole New World of Tours” that refers to discoverer Christopher Columbus, whose name became part of the county’s.
According to Kline, the group also has come up with “All Around the County,” an overnight-tour itinerary. A tourism website also is in the works.
The big move, she said, will be going to Chicago and other locales to sell the county to the companies that organize bus trips. The bus-trip companies will package and sell the trips.
The tourism-board members include Lana Tipton of the Shaker Woods Festivals antiques and crafts shows that have taken place near Columbiana. Kline said the festivals had been drawing bus tours for years.
Audrey Null, executive director of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, said the brochure is divided into the northern and southern parts of the county.