Downtown Greensboro and Lake Oconee Welcomes Familiarization Tour

Greensboro, GA, March 21, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Downtown Greensboro and Lake Oconee welcomed a Georgia Visitor Information Center Familiarization Tour to town earlier this past February. The familiarization tour covered the Classic South travel region stopping in communities like Washington and Augusta prior to making their way to the last stop, Downtown Greensboro and Lake Oconee.

This familiarization (FAM) tour’s intention was to give the Georgia Visitor Center staff the ability to experience the communities first-hand to be able to direct tourists who stop at the centers more detailed information. The FAM tour was taken first to The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation followed by a quick driving tour on the way to Downtown Greensboro.

“I am so pleased the Georgia Visitor Information Center staff was able to tour our community,” stated Lauren Neal, tourism director for Lake Oconee and Greene County Tourism. “The staff comes into contact with millions of tourists during the year. Having the staff members of the GA VICs familiar with our community allows us a great opportunity to receive more traffic from I-20.”

The FAM tour also included a visit to downtown Greensboro where the group viewed the local art collection at Festival Hall and enjoyed a few hours visiting the unique shops and galleries of downtown.

"We were thrilled to welcome the state visitor center staff to Greensboro," says Better Hometown Manager, Cail Hammons. "The visit was an excellent opportunity for the state staff to experience Greensboro first hand. Many of our guests were quite complimentary of Greensboro."

The tour group wrapped up their visit with lunch at the Yesterday Cafe where they received a warm welcome from Greensboro's Mayor Glenn Wright and enjoyed excellent service from Katie Bragg and her staff.

Hammons explains, "The Georgia welcome centers located on Interstate 20 at the Alabama and South Carolina state lines are especially critical in referring visitors to Greensboro. I fully expect that the FAM tour will result in new referrals to visit downtown Greensboro from the state welcome center staff."

Lake Oconee Tourism and Downtown Greensboro hold a few FAM tours throughout the year. Each FAM tour has a different focus. For example, Lake Oconee Tourism hosted a portion of a FAM tour in conjunction with the Georgia Department of Economic Development last year for several writers. These writers had several focuses including luxury and Georgia Made, Georgia Grown. For more information on FAM tours, please feel free to contact the Lake Oconee Tourism office at 706-453-0380.

The Greene County Tourism Committee is a volunteer organization comprised of six appointed members by the Greene County Board of Commissioners along with three representatives from the Greene County Board of Commissioners, the Greene County Chamber of Commerce and The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation. The members attend monthly meetings as well as various subcommittees throughout the year. For more information regarding Greene County Tourism, please call 706-453-0380 or visit the website at www.visitlakeoconee.com.