Travel through downtown Jim Thorpe on any given weekend and you will see the effect of tourism on our county.

True, there's traffic congestion and lots of people. But take a moment and consider how much money is brought into the county by those tourists.The D&L Trail that traverses our entire county from north to south with trailheads in Weatherly, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Weissport and East Penn Township, annually contributes more than $7.5 million in revenue to Carbon County alone.And it's not just the D&L trail that we benefit from; white water rafting, Skirmish, the resorts at Lake Harmony and Blue Mountain are all popular destinations as well as the No. 9 Mine, Weatherly Hill Climb and the Carbon County Fair to name a few more.The tourist phenomenon is huge when it comes to recruiting companies to relocate and revitalize our towns. Company CEOs vacation in an area and discover that they really like it.They can envision moving or expanding their company to these areas because of location to the market, access to quality health care, outdoor activities and a skilled workforce. These all work hand-in-hand to provide that "quality of life" that is so important.A case in point is Chattanooga, Tennessee. They wanted to revitalize their downtown riverfront by using public and private funding so they created a tax-free zone to help attract businesses and formed a free shuttle service which is tied into their parking garages where you pay to park and the shuttles are free to use.This enabled Chattanooga to recruit a Volkswagen plant into their area.But it wasn't entirely due to the tax-free zone; it was because of their efforts to clean up the riverfront, host concerts and festivals and have a trail nearby that provided the quality of life for the company's employees that convinced the company to locate there.The healthy lifestyle that a trail system promotes is key to lower health care costs and fewer sick days for employees thus lowering costs for the employer.Carbon County has the location to major city markets, access to health care and four seasons of outdoor activities. In addition we support our schools in educating the next generation with marketable skills.A four-year degree, although important, is not the only way to a well-paying job anymore. The skilled trades are also in demand.The bottom line is tourists don't just benefit the hospitality industry.They support our county financially. That helps us to pay for improvements to our towns which in turn provide jobs for our residents that enable them to have a better life and support local businesses too.We are blessed to live in a county that has so much to offer and so much potential.The CCEDC recognizes this and we are hard at work to help grow Carbon.If you are interested in joining us, give us a call.Kathy Henderson is director of economic development for the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation.