u Seneca Rocks is one of West Virginia’s best-known landmarks. Spruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area is one of the National Forest Service’s first national recreation areas.
A ccording to the West Virginia Department of Tourism, the state drew more than 65 million visitors in 2021, and travel-related spend - ing reached $4.6 billion that same year. Tourism is becoming a vital part of the state’s overall and local economies—which makes long-term planning for sustainable tourism critical. West Virginia University (WVU) Extension Rural
the Tourism First Impressions program, and the Sustainable Tourism webinar series. The goal of Mon Forest Towns is to connect the 12 gateway towns within and near the Mononga - hela National Forest to improve quality of life for residents and visitors. Our Extension team part - nered with the Monongahela National Forest and
USDA Rural Development and representatives from the MNF communities to assess the recreation economy strengths and opportunities in these towns, determine how best to brand and market Mon Forest Towns, and create a shared vision for a strong, sustainable recreation economy for the greater
Tourism works with a variety of govern - ment agencies, other WVU departments, and community and business leaders
Q & A Doug Arbogast Extension Specialist
Rural Tourism Development West Virginia University douglas.arbogast@ mail.wvu.edu
to identify tourism development strat - egies that maximize economic potential while preserving the region’s character, cultural heritage, and environment.
MNF region.
In this Q&A, WVU Extension Specialist Doug Arbogast talks about the impact that the rural tourism program is making and the importance of collaboration when it comes to big, complex transformations. Describe some of WVU Extension Rural Tourism’s hallmark projects. Four of our most noteworthy are the Mon For - est Towns project, the Voices of Change project,
In the “Voices of Change” project, based on the University of Minnesota’s rural tourism develop - ment model, we developed case studies of tour - ism development in West Virginia. The four video stories we’ve produced so far feature tourism leaders in West Virginia discussing the successes and challenges of tourism development in each of their rural communities.
34 The NET Effect | Extension Foundation/NTAE
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