Tourism Committee
Chairpersons: Dee Grossman and Debbie Robinson
Attendees of the annual meeting visit county tourism displays.
The EODA Tourism Committee was formed by a vote of the organization at the November 2017 meeting. The 2017 Annual Meeting focused on Tourism in the region. There were displays set up for the attendees to learn more about the different counties before and during the meeting. The speaker was Mary Cusick, director of Tourism Ohio, the state’s department of tourism. She gave a very informative talk on the state’s new brand and the economic impact of tourism in the state and in the Appalachian Region. The economic impact of tourism in the EODA Region for 2015, as reported by Tourism Economics is over $2,091 billion in direct sales throughout the region. The report also shows over 24,000 tourism-related jobs in the region. These figures show growth of 49% over 2014 numbers. The new impact study for 2017 will be released in the summer of 2018.
The tourism committee will be handling the July meeting of EODA. The summer meeting has typically been one to visit a tourism attraction and a networking meeting. The committee is working with Historic Fort Steuben for the July 2018 meeting. Committee members are open to suggestions of things you would like to see us work on in the future. The committee members currently are Dee Grossman, Tuscarawas County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Co-Chair; Amy Rutledge, Carroll County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Co-Chair; Shasta Mast, Holmes County Tourism; Debbie Robinson, Cambridge/Guernsey County Visitors and Convention Bureau; and Judy Bratten, Steubenville/Jefferson County Visitors Center. All members of the Tourism Committee are encouraged to become involved with growing tourism in the EODA region.