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UGA students start mapping Rabun
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| Students from Craig A. Miller's ecotourism and sustainable development class at the University of Georgia's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources hike Saturday up Hemlock Falls Trail. |
By Matt Henderson Staff Writer
A group of University of Georgia students is taking the first step toward bringing Rabun County into 21st century tourism.
Senior Jonathan Brandt, a student in Craig A. Miller's ecotourism and sustainable development class, ate lunch with his classmates Friday at Old Clayton Inn. He and his fellow classmates will be collecting data in the coming months to be used to construct an interactive map of the county.
"It will be a lot like Google Earth," he said, referring to the popular online map that allows users to scroll over landscapes and get information on restaurants, campsites, hotels and other landmarks of geographic regions all over the world.
"We are divided into groups of two, and each group gathers information about various local businesses," Marie Stringer said. "My group is agritourism."
She said agritourism encompassed local wineries and farmers markets. The growth of agritourism is due in large part to an increased interest in the slow food movement among American consumers.
"The slow food movement was originally a European idea that involved enjoying food and taking an interest in how it is made," she said.
Other groups in the class will document waterfalls, boating and fishing, climbing, churches and trails.
Miller, an assistant professor with the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, brought his students to Rabun County on Friday to get better acquainted with the area.
"I see Clayton as an area that is built around its landscape," Miller said. "It is a place where people come when they want to go fishing, hiking, mountain biking or whitewater rafting."
Miller said these activities, along with the shops, restaurants and hotels in downtown Clayton, made up the heart of tourism in the area. He said sustainable tourism included activities like hiking Rabun Bald and local businesses like the stores downtown.
"Downtown Clayton is made up mostly of old businesses," he said. These businesses support sustainable tourism because the money they take in stays in Rabun County and is not transferred to a corporation based outside of the county.
Mary Boland, executive director of the Rabun County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said technology was the future of tourism, and consumers will eventually demand it of tourist destinations.
"We have to adapt to that," she said. "Communities that don't adapt are going to be left behind."
To have a successful tourism industry, a community must strike a balance in bringing in outside businesses and preserving local businesses, Boland said.
"I like the type of tourism that supports economic growth and also supports our local outdoors activity and artisans and visitors," she said.
Miller said he hoped this project was just the beginning of a long relationship between his students and Rabun County. He hoped the town could use the information his students collected in tourism projects for years to come.
"The point is taking what the community has to offer and being able to pass it on to the next generation," he said.
Senior Jonathan Brandt, a student in Craig A. Miller's ecotourism and sustainable development class, ate lunch with his classmates Friday at Old Clayton Inn. He and his fellow classmates will be collecting data in the coming months to be used to construct an interactive map of the county.
"It will be a lot like Google Earth," he said, referring to the popular online map that allows users to scroll over landscapes and get information on restaurants, campsites, hotels and other landmarks of geographic regions all over the world.
"We are divided into groups of two, and each group gathers information about various local businesses," Marie Stringer said. "My group is agritourism."
She said agritourism encompassed local wineries and farmers markets. The growth of agritourism is due in large part to an increased interest in the slow food movement among American consumers.
"The slow food movement was originally a European idea that involved enjoying food and taking an interest in how it is made," she said.
Other groups in the class will document waterfalls, boating and fishing, climbing, churches and trails.
Miller, an assistant professor with the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, brought his students to Rabun County on Friday to get better acquainted with the area.
"I see Clayton as an area that is built around its landscape," Miller said. "It is a place where people come when they want to go fishing, hiking, mountain biking or whitewater rafting."
Miller said these activities, along with the shops, restaurants and hotels in downtown Clayton, made up the heart of tourism in the area. He said sustainable tourism included activities like hiking Rabun Bald and local businesses like the stores downtown.
"Downtown Clayton is made up mostly of old businesses," he said. These businesses support sustainable tourism because the money they take in stays in Rabun County and is not transferred to a corporation based outside of the county.
Mary Boland, executive director of the Rabun County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said technology was the future of tourism, and consumers will eventually demand it of tourist destinations.
"We have to adapt to that," she said. "Communities that don't adapt are going to be left behind."
To have a successful tourism industry, a community must strike a balance in bringing in outside businesses and preserving local businesses, Boland said.
"I like the type of tourism that supports economic growth and also supports our local outdoors activity and artisans and visitors," she said.
Miller said he hoped this project was just the beginning of a long relationship between his students and Rabun County. He hoped the town could use the information his students collected in tourism projects for years to come.
"The point is taking what the community has to offer and being able to pass it on to the next generation," he said.
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