By Kelly Soderlund, The Daily Reflector ECU officials are working to establish a tourism center that would study the economic and environmental impacts of tourism.
The center would bring expertise from different university programs to support the tourism industry in eastern North Carolina, said David Edgell, proposed director of the center and professor in the College of Human Ecology. He previously served as a U.S. Commerce Department undersecretary for travel and tourism and also was commissioner for tourism in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
"If we do tourism right, it should add to the quality of life in local communities," Edgell said.
Historic sites — the Outer Banks, Indian Beach, Beaufort, Morehead City, Wilmington — and other small towns would benefit from the proposed center, Edgell said.
"There's tremendous opportunities in and around the small communities," Edgell said. "What we want to do is let these communities know that these kinds of resources and opportunities are available to them."
East Carolina University sponsored a tourism conference Tuesday that gathered community leaders, business owners, arts organizations, commercial recreation, and travel and tourism professionals in eastern North Carolina. The goal of the conference, which will continue through today, was to provide hands-on training in development and planning, travel marketing and tourism management.
Greenville Mayor Don Parrott said he hopes the center will market the entire region as a site for tourists, rather than individual counties or cities.
"If we can advertise eastern North Carolina on more of a regional basis rather than an individual basis, I think we'll get a wider coverage, circulation," Parrott said.
Jim Smith, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs, is gathering input and information on the center to present to ECU's Board of Trustees, Edgell said. If given the go-ahead by the board, Edgell said, he can move quickly to bring the center on line.
"We have some fabulous resources at East Carolina University that, collectively, if we put all those resources together, we can have a very effective program for travel and tourism throughout eastern North Carolina," Edgell said.
The center would be the first of its kind in North Carolina, Edgell said. There are 137 tourism programs across the country.
"Most of these states have a centralized program at at least one university," Edgell said.
The tourism center would initially be a graduate program that would feed from five different programs at the university. The center would be self-sufficient, Edgell said, with funding drawn from tuition and research grants. ECU would not have to set aside extra funds to support the program.
"I think it would be something that could help all of the cities and counties east of I-95," Parrott said.
Lisbeth Evans, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, emphasized that for tourism to work, partnerships need to exist.
"Making tourism work is not something you can do alone," Evans said. "It's something you do in numbers."
About 49 million people visited North Carolina last year, Evans said, making tourism what she calls the biggest business on Earth.
"I firmly believe we have the biggest impact on the people of the state to make North Carolina a better place," Evans said.
Kelly Soderlund can be contacted at ksoderlund@coxnews.com 
