Creating jobs and growing Kentucky’s economy will be the Beshear/Mongiardo Administration’s number one priority.

In our Kentucky First plan, we talked about the need to identify and build off Kentucky’s economic strengths, such as energy, manufacturing, and valued-added products, among others, and to develop strategies to create, grow, attract and sustain businesses in high-growth jobs. Adventure Tourism is among those industries that we have targeted with the potential to create more jobs and spur entrepreneurship, especially in our rural areas. Kentucky is poised to be a premier destination for Adventure Tourism, especially for all-terrain vehicle (ATV) riders, hikers, hunters, horseback riders and outdoor enthusiasts from across the country.

Our world-class state park system is regarded as one of the best in the nation. It is made up of 53 state parks and historical sites, 17 of which offer overnight accommodations and are considered “resort parks” – the most resort parks of any state. Our resort parks offer visitors and residents ample access to biking, hiking, camping, golfing, fishing, off-roading, horseback riding, boating and swimming activities. The Kentucky tourism industry accounts for more than $10 billion in economic benefit annually to the state and employs nearly 10,000 people – and many of these dollars and jobs can be linked to our budding Adventure Tourism industry.

According to a story on our rapidly growing ATV industry featured in Kentucky Living magazine, between October 2004 and November 2005, nearly 10,000 people came to Kentucky to ride ATVs in Harlan County, and it has increased exponentially year after year. Besides ATV trails, visitors are coming to Kentucky for hunting and fishing. For example, Eastern Kentucky offers hunters access to the largest elk herds east of the Rocky Mountains and one of the biggest black bear populations in the country, and Western Kentucky offers hunters waterfowl, a growing turkey flock and its white-tailed deer concentrations rank among the top 10 in the world.

Knott County is just one example of the potential Kentucky has of becoming a leader in Adventure Tourism. The Western Pocahontas Coal Company and the Knott County Fiscal Court have partnered to recover 43,000 acres of forests and coal mine area to create hundreds of miles of horseback riding trails. Knott County Adventure Tourism already has benefited from this effort, hosting its first Ride-A-Thon, which lured visitors and horseback riding enthusiasts from states as far away as Florida and Mississippi. Small tour businesses have begun to offer guided tours and wagon rides, as well as horseback riding lessons. In addition, thanks to support from Honda, the Kentucky Recreational Trails Authority and the ATV Safety Institute, Knott County will soon be home to a new Training Center for ATVs and dirt bikes, a first-of-its-kind training and skills-test facility.

Eastern Kentucky already has miles and miles of recreational trails with a plan to open as much as 2,000 miles of recreational trails in the future. Tremendous potential also exists in Western Kentucky, which could benefit from the same type of economic growth of small businesses like tour companies, restaurants and hotels that Eastern Kentucky has today. Once more recreational trails are opened in Eastern and Western Kentucky; a plan can be developed to possibly connect the Eastern and Western trail systems through the Southern Counties.

State government must do more to encourage our counties to build on their individual Adventure Tourism strengths and strategic locations to create jobs in this area. I want to make Kentucky the best state for Adventure Tourism in the nation. That’s why the Beshear/Mongiardo Administration will:

• Continue to support the work of the Kentucky Recreational Trails Authority (KRTA). KRTA was created to expand the tourism industry, in particular, off-road activities for both motorized and non-motorized vehicles, like bicycles, horses, ATVs and off-highway vehicles (OHVs) on Kentucky lands. This organization is important to ensuring that Adventure Tourism continues to be a priority in Kentucky with dedicated members working to preserve, protect and grow this industry.

• Explore elevating the Department of Tourism to Cabinet Level. The tourism industry is important to our economy. By elevating the Department of Tourism to Cabinet level status, we can insure that our tourism industry gets more prominence in the decision making process. Tourism is a very unique industry, which covers a wide spectrum of businesses with special attributes and issues. The industry could benefit from having a separate voice at the table when it comes to allocation of the state’s economic development resources.

• Further develop and expand the state’s Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC). RTC is a national organization committed to converting former rail lines and connecting corridors to public trails for enjoyment, exercise and transportation and providing their maintenance. The RTC has proved successful in states like Florida, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, to name only a few, that have converted former rail lines into recreational trails in rural and urban areas. Yet despite the success of this program in other states, only minimal efforts have been made to date to expand the program in Kentucky. For example, we only have seven RTC trails now, totaling just 20 miles in length. We can do better. A Beshear/Mongiardo Administration will provide the leadership to get it done.

• Enhance our wildlife and wetland habitats by working with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and national organizations, such as Ducks Unlimited and Delta Waterfowl – leaders in wildlife, waterfowl and wetland conservation – to preserve, protect and sustain our wildlife habitats and to secure the future of waterfowl hunting in Kentucky for years to come. As part of this effort, we will increase the stocking of fish when biologically necessary.

• Work to expand access to our lakes, streams and rivers, where potential exists, to increase the number of public fisheries and to provide more opportunities for boaters, especially those who kayak and canoe.

• Make Kentucky a premier hunting and fishing destination. Kentucky offers some of the best hunting and fishing in the country. But more could be done to entice visitors to Kentucky, especially women and youth hunters by developing more hunting blinds. For instance, North Dakota farmers created an entirely new industry for hunting blinds. They permit hunters to use a portion of their lands, charging a small fee for these “prime hunting spots.” This is a win-win for the economy: the program draws more outdoors enthusiasts to North Dakota to spend their tourism dollars, and also increases annual land use revenues to participating farmers. The Beshear/Mongiardo Administration will work with the Kentucky Farm Bureau to explore opportunities like these that would make Kentucky an even better hunting and fishing destination and produce new revenues for our farmers and rural landowners.

• Match farmers and landowners that have nuisance wildlife or wildlife damage problems with hunters and trappers. We will work with the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and the Kentucky Farm Bureau to put a program in place to satisfy everyone’s needs.

• Develop youth mentoring and introductory programs for women, single-parents and children to learn outdoor skills like hunting, fishing and archery, among others, and work to enhance current programs like Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) and Archery in Kentucky’s Schools, and Fishing in Neighborhoods – a program that promotes the sport of fishing for people living in urban areas throughout the state.

• Keep safety at the forefront. Regardless of the economic potential that Adventure Tourism provides, nothing is more important than ensuring the safety and well-being of our residents and visitors. Unfortunately, Kentucky ranks at or near the top in the number of ATV accidents and fatalities. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Kentucky had 182 ATV-related deaths between the years 1982-2001, and 55 of them were children under age 16. And more deaths – 106 in total – were reported from 2002 to 2004. As a result, the state legislature passed a law in 2006 to require all children under age 16 to wear helmets when riding ATVs on public property. But this legislation doesn’t go far enough. The Beshear/Mongiardo Administration will appoint a state Safety Coordinator who will oversee the creation of a state safety course for all motorized and non-motorized vehicle sports and will be responsible for designing safety manuals and guides for all activities and sports that take place on public lands, such as off-roading, horseback riding and boating, among others. In addition, we will provide web links to the ATV Safety Institute and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, as well as other safety resources on our tourism and state parks’ websites, so residents, tour operators and visitors can obtain important safety information quickly and easily.

• Identify counties with potential to start, grow and/or expand their Adventure Tourism industries and provide state support. As part of our overall economic development strategy, we will assign state economic developers to work with each county to create an economic development plan unique to that county, while insuring that the individual plans mesh with the state’s comprehensive economic development design. State economic developers specifically will be tasked with working alongside local community officials to evaluate each local area’s strengths and weaknesses and to identify opportunities to partner with local businesses and industries to further develop the Adventure Tourism industry where potential exists. To ensure that we get the biggest bang for taxpayer dollars, they also will encourage nearby counties, local governments and businesses to form partnerships and reward them with state grant dollars – now used for tourism promotion – to purchase and/or preserve public land and to further promote the Adventure Tourism industry.

• Expand tourism promotion across the board. We are committed to making Kentucky a leading tourism destination in the country. Kentucky has so much to offer visitors of all ages and incomes. Whether it is to visit the world-renowned Kentucky Derby, hike through our world’s largest cave system at Mammoth Cave National Park, travel by boat on some of our pristine lakes and rivers, or take an off-roading adventure on some of the best trails in the nation – Kentucky offers something for everybody. A Beshear/Mongiardo Administration will expand tourism promotion and market Kentucky as the high-end tourism destination we all know it to be.

• Launch a state webpage dedicated to providing a one-stop resource for Kentucky’s Adventure Tourism industry. Presently, the state offers some on-line information specific to the Adventure Tourism industry, but it is scattered throughout the tourism website, requiring residents and visitors to click through several pages of information. More could be done to organize the information so that it highlights the variety of recreational activities Kentucky offers specific to this new and growing industry. The Beshear/Mongiardo Administration will dedicate an entire webpage on the state’s tourism website specifically to promote Adventure Tourism. The webpage will offer information on trails, guided tours, activities and seasonal offerings, information on upcoming events, lodging and dining options, as well as information on fees, safety information, and state safety guidelines and laws. In addition, we will invite local businesses in the Adventure Tourism industry to advertise on the website at minimal cost.

Additionally, we will conduct a thorough review of all our tourism marketing materials to explore ways to highlight further Kentucky’s Adventure Tourism opportunities.

CONCLUSION

With leadership and commitment from the governor’s office, we believe that Kentucky could be a national and world leader in Adventure Tourism. The Beshear/Mongiardo Administration will provide that leadership and commitment to grow this industry.