Welcome fall

It’s only one gateway to see the autumn color, but an estimated 25,000 visitors pass through Washington County, Va., to see leaves change color in fall.
Fall color is big business – for gas stations, restaurants, motels and more. With thousands of visitors coming through Washington County, tourism officials take the season seriously. So-called leaf peepers “come from miles and miles away,” Myra Cook, Abingdon’s director of tourism, told the Herald Courier. And the county is featured in the Virginia Tourism Corp.’s “Fall in Virginia” Web site at http://www.virginia.org/fall.
There, Washington County is listed as one of 17 “Great Fall Getaways” and includes information on the Virginia Creeper Trail, Whitetop Mountain and a list of stores and restaurants.
Last year, there were 150,000 visitors to the site during October, November and December.
It’s exciting to see the interest in the region, especially since that can translate into increased tourist dollars. A big lure is fall foliage forecasts and pictures of various state parks. It gives visitors to the Web site a taste of the fall color and entices them to come visit.
There’s a similar site for fall color fans who aim to find sites in Tennessee: http://www.fall.tnvacation.com.
You can go online and see the photographs, but take a peek outside and you can see for yourself – it’s getting more colorful every day. That means more visitors will come to see this beautiful place we are fortunate to call home.
Tennessee and Virginia rank among the top seven destinations for fall color fans, according to a survey AAA released last week. So get ready to welcome plenty of visitors, and remember to get outside and enjoy the fall beauty while it lasts.