When West Virginia sells its Civil War tourism, it's also selling Virginia. Ditto for Maryland, North Carolina and Tennessee.
All five states participate in Civil War Trails, a $7 million operation that's run out of the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.
So when they advertise their Civil War sites, they're also linking to Virginia's, said Jack Berry, president of the Richmond visitors bureau, in a presentation to the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission on Thursday.
West Virginia, which joined the trails program this year, bought a full-page ad in a Washington Post Civil War section this spring to tout its appeal as "the only state that seceded from the Confederacy."
Berry was pleased.
"Other states are marketing our strengths," he said. "That's a $70,000 ad we didn't have to pay for."
Gettysburg, the biggest Civil War site in the nation, also has joined the Civil War Trails consortium even though Pennsylvania declined to participate.
In a national poll, Pennsylvania ranked highest among states for significant Civil War history because of Gettysburg, Berry said, but Virginia was second.
"We are history, like it or not," Berry said, "and most known for the Civil War. We're not the Big Easy, not the Big Apple. We've got to market history because that's who we are."
The city also is fortunate to have more than history. Visitors get distracted, Berry said, by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, shopping, 900 restaurants and hundreds of other things to do in the region.
"The secret is, there's so much going on. … The Civil War is great. But there's so much more."
The diversity has helped the city tourism industry withstand the economic downturn, he said.
Hotel revenue per available room in the first quarter of 2011 was up 9.6 percent in the Richmond and Petersburg region, compared with 4.1 percent for the state as a whole and 10 percent nationally.
The Picasso exhibit contributed to the strong showing, but its final economic impact isn't known yet. Chmura Economics & Analytics, based in Richmond, is working on a study to determine the economic impact; the study is expected to be completed by July.
Though it's too early to know the impact of Civil War tourism connected to the 150th anniversary, Civil War attractions in the area are reporting about a 10 percent increase in attendance over the previous year, Berry said.
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