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The Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce hosted members at The Majestic Theatre Thursday for its “World Heritage: It’s Everyone’s Business” presentation. The purpose was to help business leaders understand that the world is literally coming to Ross County’s front door.
Chamber President and CEO, Michael Throne prefaced his remarks by telling those in attendance “We are the epicenter of the World Heritage Designation in Ohio.” Five of the eight in the group of Hopewell Earthworks are in Ross County.
Throne beamed as he spoke of his trip to Scotland last week, visiting Edinburgh. “The entire city is a World Heritage site”, said Throne. “I was telling a waiter we (Hopewell Earthworks) were recently named a World Heritage site and he told me he’s making plans to visit in 2025.”
Superintendent of the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Chris Alford says the visitors center has seen an uptick in visitation since receiving UNESCO World Heritage inscription last September, increasing by almost 60%. “We’re talking only 60,000-70,000 visitors annually that we’re tracking. The studies show we could be somewhere up to around 150% beyond that.”
Alford described Ross County as a small circle, that’s now a lot bigger.
“About that 60,000 visitors – they’re just local, probably state, with an occasional visitor coming in just because they want to visit all 430-plus National Park sites to get a stamp in a book. But in the last year, we’ve heard one thing that’s been different – I am here today, because I wanted to visit a World Heritage site”, quoting visitor responses.
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Matt MacLaren, Director of Tourism Policy for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce says the world is coming to the Buckeye State, and local businesses need to be prepared to roll out the red carpet.
“The World Heritage site creates an opportunity for the communities that are nearby” said MacLaren. “Like so many attractions, when those communities start welcoming in guests, doing the marketing and embracing that they have a major world class attraction, that’s when you see economic development really happen. That’s when you see local restaurants, retailers, events, things get used by guests that bring new money, new visitors into the area.”
According to MacLaren, “Tourism is a $56-billion industry in the state. Last year we welcomed 48-million overnight visitors to Ohio.”
Executive Director of the Ross-Chillicothe Convention and Visitors Bureau, Melody Young, told the audience when those visitors come to experience World Heritage sites, they spend only about 10% of their time at the site. However, Young added “These tourists spend more money, they stay longer and they want to engage with our locals.” The better the experience, tourists tend to spread the word about the time they had when they return home, which in turn will likely bring more visitors to the region.
The RCCVB has an educational piece on its website where you can watch a 20-minute video presentation and then take a 9-point quiz after to help you learn the basics of the World Heritage site which stretches from Newark to Warren County and 5 of the 8 sites in the group are here in Ross County. To take the quiz, go to visitchillicotheohio.com.
There are only 1,200 sites worldwide. Just twenty-five are in the United States. Only one in Ohio, the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.
To learn more, click on these respective links:
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
Ross-Chillicothe Convention and Visitors Bureau
Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce
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