One local woman went home happy yesterday evening after receiving the Friend of Tourism award from The Jacksonville Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
At an award ceremony held yesterday afternoon, the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau announced Karla Stice as the 2017 Friend of Tourism recipient as part of National Travel and Tourism Week.
WLDS-WEAI News caught up with Stice after the ceremony, who says she was both elated and surprised about receiving the award.
“It was very much a surprise. I’m just overwhelmed with all the excitement here at the Visitors Bureau. It’s been an exciting year working with all the different agencies that we work with. It’s a great Board that we have and we like to do great things for our community,” says Stice.
Executive Director of the Convention & Visitors Bureau Brittany Henry says none of this would be possible without all the support from the entire community.
“It’s great, it’s overwhelming, but in a positive way to see how much support we have for the tourism industry for the Jacksonville area. It takes more than our organization, it takes Main Street, the Chamber, the City, Economic Development, everyone in the community, we really couldn’t do everything without them. It really means a lot to us,” says Henry.
Also in attendance was Jacksonville Mayor Andy Ezard, who says Jacksonville has a great thing going in terms of tourism.
“Tourism is everybody, every person in Jacksonville has a play in tourism. Our history describes itself, but our future is even more important and if we can get that message that we need to be a destination, we are a vibrant town of almost 20,000 that really has a story to tell. I think the direction that we’re going with a lot of the things that are going on is going to play a big part in that,” says Ezard.
For more information on the award and upcoming events in Jacksonville, click here.