| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 17/04/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 55 |
| Copyright: Other |
Leaving on that midnight train to Georgia-
From Graceland to the Gulf coast, there’s plenty to see
MARKETING organisation Travel South USA will be introducing new guidelines on tours and places of interest to help UK operators and agents plan itineraries in its 12 southern member states.They will be unveiled at the annual US Pow Wow trade show in Dallas in May and are due to be completed in the summer in both print and on-line. Atlanta-based Travel South spokeswoman Liz Doyle said: “The Idea Book is not a tour planner but a series of guides in notebook form designed to give tour operators ideas about what there is to see and do in the South.
“Before the end of the year we will add sections on the great outdoors, shopping and festivals and events, of which more than 5,000 are now in our database.
Travel Weekly has compiled the following sections on just a few of the 12 states to give brief examples of how the new format will operate.
It will act as an information point for agents whose clients want specific details about southern states and how they can be combined in one touring holiday.
South Carolina
What’s it like? It has spectacular mountain foothills, coastal resorts and island retreats.
Sample attractions: historic district of Charleston; Revolutionary War Trail near Camden; Myrtle Beach resorts; Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway.
Sample activities: golf and sea kayaking at Hilton head Island.
Antebellum beauty: typically Deep South Savannah
Georgia
What’s it like? The largest state east of the Mississippi, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Appalachian Mountains. Atlanta is the largest gateway to the Deep South.
Sample attractions: historic Savannah; Georgia Music Hall of Fame, World of Coca-Cola, Carter Presidential Centre and Martin Luther King Centre, all in Atlanta.
Sample activities: golf, hiking along the Appalachian Trail.
Alabama
What’s it like? Rivers and lakes of the Appalachian foothills, sub-tropical bayous and white-sand beaches along the Gulf of Mexico’s Delta coastline. The state has more miles of navigable waterways than any other and some of the best fishing in the southeast.
Sample attractions: US Space and Rocket Centre, Huntsville; George Washington Carver Museum, Tuskeegee; Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Tuscumbia; pre-Civil War Mansions.
Sample activities: golf and water sports.
Mississippi
What’s it like? The state offers Gulf Coast resorts, is bordered by the legendary Mississippi River and has the Natchez Trace Parkway, an ancient highway. It is steeped in history and Old South tradition.
Sample attractions: historic district of Natchez; Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale; birthplace of Elvis Presley at Tupelo.
Sample activities: biking along the Natchez Trace Parkway.
Legendary: the Mississippi River
Tennessee
What’s it like? The home of country music and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey, the middle of the state is made up of rolling hills, with the Great Smoky Mountains in the east. Also has fertile plains along the Mississippi and more rivers in the west.
Sample attractions: Elvis Presley’s Graceland home; Sun Studios; National Civil Rights Museum; Beale Street music clubs, all in Memphis. Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville; Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Sample activities: overnight horseback riding trips at Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains.
Big night out: the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville
Big night out: the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville