Carbon County attracts some 3 million visitors every year, providing a projected $500,000 in economic benefit in guest spending, according to the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau.

Small towns with rich histories, such as Lansford, could attract some of those visitors and reap tourism dollars.

Lansford officials are ready to step up and begin developing a tourism plan for the borough, but want the public’s input.

A meeting is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at the borough building to discuss both existing tourism sites and potential sites that could be developed to drive tourism and economic opportunities in the borough.

Council President Bruce Markovich said he and Councilwoman Gwyneth Collevechio will chair the meeting along with Marianne Rustad and Marlyn Kissner from the PMVB.

Lansford already has the No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum, an attraction that allows visitors to go deep inside an anthracite coal mine and learn about the history of mining and life in coal towns.

Also along Dock Street is the former Lehigh and New England Railroad station, where the borough was looking to possibly develop a visitors center, market with food stands and rail museum as envisioned by design students from the Carbon Career & Technical Institute.

Other areas of interest are the shuttered Hauto Tunnel, not far from the train station, and the 175-year-old Welsh Congregational Church on West Abbott Street, where restoration work continues.

The Lansford Historical Society also has a museum on East Bertsch Street, which puts slivers of life from the borough’s heyday on display.

Other potential sites include the Jones murder site, the Old Jail, the head point of the Panther Creek Railroad from 1849, the home of Alex Campbell, one of the Molly Maguires who claimed innocence with his famed handprint in the county jail in Jim Thorpe, and the home of musicians the Dorsey Brothers, Markovich said.

The borough could capitalize on its history with anthracite mining, the industrial revolution and interesting storytelling involving the Molly Maguires, the Dorsey Brothers and even Frank Sinatra, according to the visitors bureau’s outline for the meeting.

The tourism development plan seeks to look at both the existing and potential tourism sites, produce achievable time frames for development of the sites, and ensure the borough is ready to welcome and service guest correctly.

Tours could be packaged with Jim Thorpe to extend guests’ stays and general additional overnight potential, according the PMVB. Approximately 50% of Carbon County’s visitors are from the New York area, while 25% are from the Philadelphia area.