Seeking to Boost Travel on Blue Ridge Parkway

Image by D L Ennis, Blue Ridge Parkway

Visitors have been coming to the Blue Ridge Parkway in smaller numbers and now a business group is stepping in to help.

The group is planning a promotional campaign to get motorists back on the scenic mountain drive.

Angie Chandler is president of the Blue Ridge Parkway Association. The group won the $438,000 federal grant for the campaign.

The association, which includes more than 600 businesses and travel groups in Virginia and North Carolina, will use the money to buy ads, upgrade its Web site and promote the parkway at trade shows.

The number of people driving the road dropped to 18.67 million last year from a record 23.48 million in 2002.

Source: WTVD