SEDONA, ARIZ.—The Sedona Verde Valley Tourism Council (SVVTC) has partnered with National Geographic to launch a new Geotourism website. The newly released website features more than 200 local businesses as part of the sustainable tourism initiative in the Verde Valley.
The partnership resulted in a co-branded National Geographic Geotourism “MapGuide” website and has been created to promote sustainable travel to some of the world’s most important tourism destinations. National Geographic defines geotourism as “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographic character of a place, its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents.” The Sedona Verde Valley is one of only 22 destinations worldwide to hold this distinct partnership with National Geographic and joins other countries and states as the smallest region represented in this program.
The Sedona Verde Valley Tourism Council is made up of community and civic leaders from Sedona, Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Camp Verde, Jerome and the Yavapai Apache Nation. This project was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation through the Friends of the Verde River Greenway with a focus on creating and sustaining the area’s natural surroundings. The culmination of two years of planning, the Geotourism website was launched in November 2015 and plans to promote quality and sustainable tourism.
Landscapes, Diverse People Highlighted
James Dion, the Geotourism MapGuides coordinator at National Geographic, expressed the importance of local partnerships in shaping geotourism efforts, saying “local residents were asked to contribute suggestions of places to visit in the area and useful travel advice. This created the content for this remarkable site that celebrates everything special and unique about the Verde Valley.” The Geotourism website highlights the landscapes and diverse people of northern Arizona, while showing local, national and international audiences the natural, cultural and historic attractions that define the region.
“Throughout this process, we’ve brought together a large group of the region’s Chambers of Commerce, cities and towns, Economic Development departments, natural resource managers, Yavapai Apache Nation community members, national and state parks and local businesses to begin meaningful dialogue about how to grow tourism, while maintaining quality of life for our residents and sustaining the beautiful natural resources around us,” says Jennifer Wesselhoff, President/CEO of the Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau.
The website can be viewed at sedonaverdevalley.natgeotourism.com, and will constantly be updated as residents and visitors continue to nominate new sites, events and special places. Nominations will continue to be accepted.
The National Geographic Society has worked with community-based alliances to develop similar Geotourism MapGuides and websites in other regions around the world, including Cascades (Oregon, Washington), Greater Yellowstone (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming), Portugal’s Douro Valley, the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Herzagovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia) and more. For more information, visit http://www.natgeomaps.com.
