lake cumberland increases tourism for 2008

[Dolphin]

Lake tourism increases in 2008

By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus
Commonwealth Journal

October 29, 2008 11:37 pm

— Visitation to Lake Cumberland increased during the 2008 tourist season in spite of a lower lake level, rising fuel cost and an unstable economy, according to the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet.
Gil Lawson, quoting statistics released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said 3.9 million people visited the 10-county Lake Cumberland area during the 2007-2008 fiscal year, an increase of more than 7,200 over the 2006-2007 period.
Although the increase is a small percentage improvement, it is important to note that this is the first increase since 2003 and came in a season of rising fuel costs and an unsteady economy, Lawson, spokesman for the Cabinet, said in the news release issued Wednesday.
Although the Corps does not release county-by-county visitation statistics, Carolyn Mounce, executive director of Somerset-Pulaski Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she has always been told by the Corps that Pulaski County accounts for one-third of the lake visitation. That would indicate 1.3 million visitors came to Pulaski County during the past vacation season.
“We were all running around like a chicken with its head cut off when they lowered the lake in 2007,” recalls Mounce. “But it wasn’t a bad year ... it was a great year!” she declared.
“With what we dealt with ... with all the meetings we attended ... all (tourism promotional interests) along the lake are to be commended for the fact that people still want to come to Lake Cumberland,” Mounce said.
An informal license plate survey indicated most visitors were from Kentucky with guests from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois following closely behind. Gas prices may have contributed to the increase in Kentucky visitors and also a slight increase in visitors from Tennessee, Lawson said.
“We believe these figures show our efforts to promote Lake Cumberland through the media and other marketing efforts paid off during 2008,” said Marcheta Sparrow, secretary of the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet. “Lake Cumberland will continue to be a great place to visit and we will continue working to promote the lake as a tourist destination.”
Visitation to Lake Cumberland fell significantly in 2006-2007 as a result of lowering the lake elevation while critical repairs are being made to Wolf Creek Dam. That encouraged Lake Cumberland marinas, tourist commissions, tourism agencies and local governments to work together to launch a website and develop a targeted marketing campaign in late spring and early summer of 2008, the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet’s news release noted.
The campaign closely followed an increased marketing effort in late winter and early spring of 2008 by the Kentucky Department of Travel and TOUR Southern and Eastern Kentucky. These campaigns combined with positive word-of-mouth comments made by 2006-2007 visitors helped increase visitation, Lawson said.
In early 2007 Kentucky State Government pooled the resources of several cabinets and departments to work with the Corps of Engineers to ensure there would be access to Lake Cumberland as the elevation changed. As a result there are now 52 ramps located around the lake providing access to Lake Cumberland, concluded the news release.
Fifty-eight year old Wolf Creek Dam, declared in high risk of failure in 2005, is in its second year of a six-to-seven year rehabilitation project to permanently stop uncontrolled seepage.
The lake was lowered more than 40 feet in January 2007 to ease pressure on the dam. Since then, 844,234 gallons of grout (liquid concrete) have been pumped into the dam, and last month a contract was awarded to construct a barrier wall through the earthen section of the dam.
Corps officials said these repairs will make the dam completely safe at least until the end of the century. Despite its lower level, Lake Cumberland currently has 37,000 acres of water averaging over 50 feet deep. It is Kentucky's largest body of water.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.

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Beautiful Lake Cumberland, largest body of water in Kentucky, attracted 3.9 million visitors during 2008. Despite being at a low

[E_]

Hey dolphin can you give a link to the article so they get the proper credit.

[djcardinal]

I believe it was more, but I would say if you weighted the avergae it might not be as spread out over the summer. The holiday weekends and Poker Run were absoluetly sickening with the amount of people on the water. The weekends in between were sometimes very barren. Which made the season better overall I think!

DJ

[Dolphin]

Hey dolphin can you give a link to the article so they get the proper credit.

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lake cumberland increases tourism for 2008

Postby Dolphin on Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:21 am
Lake tourism increases in 2008

By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus
Commonwealth Journal