August 19th, 2024 by WCBC Radio

The USA Today 10Best Poll asking readers for the best place to visit for Fall has Allegany County in good company.  Right now, the County is in second place behind Gatlinburg, Tennessee. County Tourism Director Ashli Workman tells WCBC News that being listed among very well-known locations is an honor in itself and brings recognition to the area…

 

“You have Ashville and Gatlinburg is number one right now currently.  You know those are destinations of very recognizable national names.  So to see us listed and to actually get in the top 10…anyone who gets in the top 10 is actually featured in USA Today for an entire year as these are the 10 best places to visit in the Fall for a whole year.”

The contest does result in more traffic to the county tourism website mdmountainside.com and Workman says that last fall’s second place finish definitely helped tourism numbers for the year…

Workman2   18 secs   

"It’s hard to put exact tangibles on it because some of this is organic form of advertising. But I can tell you that last Fall was one of the biggest Falls we had on record in the Tourism Office in terms of our lodging tax revenues.  We had a great year last year with our hoteliers having very large occupancy.”