christiansburg, virginia – Over the past several months, the Blacksburg-Christianburg-Montgomery County Tourism Authority has partnered with the Sports Tourism Team to develop a sports tourism growth plan.
“They hired us to talk about what they can do from a sports tourism perspective to bring in more tourists,” said John Schmieder, CEO of HuddleUp Group. Told.
Through research, Schmieder said he found the answers Montgomery County was looking for.
“We want to focus on youth soccer, youth travel sports, which is a competitive market in which we and you operate,” Schmieder said.
He said there has already been success in neighboring counties.
“Danville is just getting started, but Lynchburg has been doing it for a few years. Salem is great at this, especially in the college area. So forget about Richmond and Virginia Beach and the larger markets. '' Schmieder said.
The idea is to utilize parts of areas like Christiansburg Huckleberry Park to host soccer, lacrosse and many other sports tournaments.
“What's the next step? How do we get to the next step?” said David Rothenizer, executive director of the Blacksburg-Christianburg-Montgomery County Tourism Authority. “We're already doing that with the city of Christiansburg. They're a sports tourism powerhouse, and we want to build on what they've already started.”
I talked to a mother in Christiansburg who said it was a great idea.
“I think it would be great to get more exposure in the community because these areas are already pretty active,” Alicia Irish said.
Blacksburg-Christianburg-Montgomery County Tourism officials said they hope to hold the event within the next six months.
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