Montgomery County working to boost sports tourism in the local economy

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) -Christiansburg is working to live up to its brand as “The Only Place To Play” hosting many sporting events year-round, but the Montgomery County Regional Tourism office is looking to expand its sports and recreation assets further.

“Well you already have it with the Town of Christiansburg, they’re a sports tourism powerhouse, and you know we want to build upon what they already have,” said David Rotenizer.

Montgomery County Regional Tourism has been working with a sports tourism consulting firm, Huddle Up Group, over the past few months. They have been brainstorming ideas on how to make this happen.

The CEO of Huddle Up Group, Jon Schmieder, said with Virginia Tech and Radford being right around the corner, along with the large number of hotels in the area, Montgomery County is the perfect place to play. “There’s a lot of opportunity to fill some of those rooms, more activity. So more of the leisure traveler for the outdoor venues, we talked about more team sports, things like that,” said Schmieder.

By providing more travel opportunities for sporting events, the hope is that people will spend time and money visiting other sites in the New River Valley.

From an athletic perspective, you want to have something for them to do outside of that activity. And so being able to have those opportunities such as going to the river to fish to swim to canoe, those are those are really great opportunities, and it brings people back to your area,” said Brad Epperly, the Director of Christiansburg Parks and Recreation.

Huddle Up will meet with the Tourism office next month to discuss specific priorities.

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