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The Kentucky Department of Tourism’s economic impact information for 2023 has been released, with Harlan County making a large jump, clocking in at 5th highest in the 18-county region.
According to the Kentucky Department of Tourisms website at https://www.kentuckytourism.com, Harlan County’s total tourism related numbers include 304 tourism associated jobs, $6.1 million in labor income, $3 million in state and local taxes, and $38.4 million in tourist spending.
Executive Director of the City of Harlan Tourism and Convention Commission Brandon Pennington shed some light on what those numbers indicate.
“We are the fifth highest grossing county in tourism spending in our 18-county region in southeast Kentucky,” Pennington said. “That includes Laurel County, Whitley County, Bell County, Perry County, Knox County, Powell County, Breathitt County, Jackson County, that general area.”
Harlan County has consistently seen economic gains through tourism over the years.
“This year was one of our biggest,” Pennington said. “It was a $1.1 million increase in tourist spending. All these numbers are provided through the Kentucky Department of Tourism. The research is conducted by Tourism Economics, which is the national standard for comparing tourism economic growth across the nation.”
Tourist spending is a factor in overall economic growth.
“What tourists spend in our area contributes to the full economic impact they’re actually putting into our community,” Pennington said. “One of the ways we look at it is whenever we have different events that take place in Harlan County or anything like that, a local person who attends doesn’t bring outside dollars into the community. But, when you have a visitor that comes in, they spend about 7 times more than a local person does. Therefore, you begin to see economic growth each time a visitor comes in.”
The increase in tourism spending in Harlan County is not an accident.
“We have an incredible tourism product in Harlan” Pennington said. “To put that in perspective, the counties that had a higher gain in tourist spending in our region are ones that have either interstate access, or they have major highways.”
Pennigton pointed out when tourists come to Harlan, they are usually not just passing through. He says this is the result of all the tourism organizations throughout Harlan County working together resulting in approximately 200 yearly events in addition to attractions and natural assets.
“We have seen a unified effort throughout the county between all the tourism commissions,” Pennington said.
Yearly events around Harlan County include the Poke Sallet Festival, Festival of the Mountain Masters, Dog Days of Kentucky, the Kingdom Come Swappin’ Meet at Kingdom Come State Park, 4th Fest, Possum Fest, and many others.
“Having that kind of a product…is impressive,” Pennington said. “Then you also take into consideration all the history and culture that came out of our community. One of the things I like to tell tourists is we’re the most famous small town in Kentucky. How many other communities have documentaries done about them? How many other communities in Kentucky have had a television show that takes place in them? It’s kind of incredible to know we’re off the beaten path, but we’re still bringing in such an incredible economic impact.”
Pennington says there are future projects on the horizon in addition to new events which will enhance the Harlan tourism experience.
“Absolutely we want to stay the course, but we also have some upcoming opportunities that we really feel will continue to increase our economic impact. Things such as the Harlan County Museum opening in the near future. We saw the Harlan County Beer Company open and that has provided an incredible addition to our tourism product. We see other outside investment like potentially a new hotel and all the short-term rentals that are popping up…we also want to capitalize on all of those growth opportunities,” Pennington said.
Pennington added his thoughts on how the community can assist in moving tourism forward.
“One of the best things we can do as a community to continue to build growth is to become the best ambassador you can be,” Pennington said. “That means being aware of what attractions exist in your community, take your friends and family to those attractions, but also keeping up to date on the different events taking place.”
For information on all events and attractions in Harlan County, go to www.harlantourism.com, follow the Visit Harlan County Facebook page or other social media outlets.