Letter: Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission needs your support

Letter to the editor from Steve Potts, Chairman of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission

There has been a lot of discussion about the future of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission. The ESVATC was created to market both Accomack and Northampton, regionally, and is therefore funded by both counties.  Recently that funding has been threatened, which has put the ESVATC in a position where it is difficult to move forward with much of our work.

We are asking our tourism partners to reach out to their representatives on the Boards of Supervisors and let their needs be known. If you believe in our work or we have helped your business, please speak out about it. Simply writing your representative a letter that expresses your experiences with the ESVATC could make all the difference.

We would like to take this opportunity to reassure all of our tourism partners that we are still working for you.

The Southern Gateway Welcome Center continues to welcome guests, driving them into our Eastern Shore towns and businesses to stimulate our economy. While the Welcome Center is seen by many as the ESVATC’s crowning achievement, there are many more assets at stake. One such asset is the annual visitor’s guide, which is distributed throughout the state and is the most popular piece of information that guests take with them from the Welcome Center. We also continue to work on our content marketing strategy through our seven content platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.

On October 22 we will host a tourism workshop from 11a.m. to 2p.m. at the Eastern Shore Community College where there will be a soft launch of our new website. Please call the ESVATC at (757)787-8628 to register; seating is limited.

This new “Virtual Welcome Center” has been developed as an extension of the Welcome Center located at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel that has for years been so successful. Events on this website will be fed through the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s website and will be showcased to 16 million people a year. We are very excited about the opportunity to extend our reach to so many potential visitors.

However, we cannot move forward without your continued support. Please reach out to your representative today.