Copyright © 2006 NLThomas
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News from the Cherokee Nation, OK
Copyright © 2006 CNO
TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA – The Cherokee Nation’s third working conference on tourism is scheduled for Monday, July 10, at the Armory Municipal Center in downtown Tahlequah. The conference will run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The original pillars of the Cherokee Seminary, located at the Cherokee Heritage Center near Tahlequah, are one of the most recognized Cherokee historical icons in Oklahoma. The Cherokee Nation is working to build tourism in the area, including bringing groups to the Heritage Center. 
Specific topics to be addressed at this meeting include existing to urism infrastructure in the Cherokee Nation; new potential tourism development areas and the infrastructure needed for them; environmentally friendly infrastructure; and establishment of the Cherokee Nation Tourism Association. Participants will also be asked to name the top four Cherokee Nation Cultural Experiences they have identified as most desired by tourists and the tourism industry.
A special free tour of the Cherokee Heritage Center and Museum will be offered from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
This conference, entitled a “Working Conference on Cultural Tourism Development,” is one in a series of sessions to brainstorm ideas with large and diverse groups of people about how to increase regional and state tourism.
Approximately fifty-five policy-makers, business owners and tourism industry officials attended the May meeting, and more than 200 people have attended the three meetings held to date.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith issued a personal invitation to all those who might want to attend the July 10 meeting, telling an earlier group of conference participants working together in the effort is the key to success.
“Your continued cooperative effort in the Working Conferences on Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism Development is sincerely appreciated. Your input is a valuable part of the planning process as we move forward in building a sustainable, comprehensive Cherokee Nation Cultural tourism plan,” Smith told the group. “Working together, we can broaden tourism experiences and help grow the tourism industry here in Oklahoma to the mutual benefit of all communities.”
Sessions at the May meeting dealt with numerous issues surrounding cultural tourism in Oklahoma, including five key issues in growing cultural tourism; how many organizations have tourist or comprehensive development plans that include tourism and who manages such plans; what organizations lead tourism in different areas of the Cherokee Nation; and how the Cherokee Nation can work with regional businesses and organizations to further develop, support or grow tourism in northeastern Oklahoma.
A comprehensive Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism Plan will result from this series of meetings and should be finished by September 2006. The plan will be implemented in phases beginning in 2007.
Subsequent meetings will be held on August 7 and September 4, both Mondays, from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m., at locations to be announced later. Members of the press working and writing for the state’s tourism industry, representatives from local, state, and national businesses and governments, business owners and other interested parties are invited to participate in these meetings.
The Armory Municipal Center is located at 201 East Delaware in Tahlequah, at the corner of Delaware and Water streets across from the historic downtown Cherokee Nation Courthouse Square.
For more information on the Working Conference on Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism Development, contact Linda Turnbull-Lewis, phone: 918-458-9322 or cell: 918-453-1932 or by e-mail: naitca@fullnet.net. To attend the meeting, please contact Carolyn Woodruff, Cherokee Nation Tourism Planning Office, phone: 918-207-3954.
Related path(s):
| Related Cherokee Nation contact information: |
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Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org
Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager |
Steven Swogger, Agriculture Liaison Natural Resources Department Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2546) FAX: 918-458-7673 E-mail: sswogger@cherokee.org
Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation |