Promoting the Past by Embracing the Present (Technology)

It seems natural that in Morris County, where the telegraph was perfected, that the tourism bureau should use smart phone applications to promote historic sites and events, Leslie Bensley said Thursday.

Bensley, the executive director of the , told more than 100 visitors to the "Rally For Tourism: Destination Morris County," her agency has developed both a mobile Morris County Tourism Bureau website and a mobile application for the popular Morristown historic guided walks.

The website is an easily-accessible version of the bureau’s full website modified for a smart phone format, she said.

The walking tour app provides access to the 1.5-mile walk through Morristown and is available for free at iTunes, Bensley said. Versions for Android phones and BlackBerry devices are currently being prepared.

Such phone-based deliveries work, officials said. Leslie Parness, of the Morris County Park Commission, said a cell phone tour of Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris Township that highlighted the plants of the Civil War received 3,000 calls last year. Callers were able to follow the tour on the park commission website while listening on their cell phone, she said. Callers came from around the world.

Parness said that tour was one of several that generated traffic that featured the arboretum. Another popular one was the Plants of China, which was delivered in both English and Mandarin, she said.

Jill Hawk, in her fifth month as superintendent of the , said studies show that for every tax dollar spent on tourism, four dollars are returned to the local economy. The federal government provides $2.6 million in fund for the Morristown National Park, she said.

In 2009, visitor spending in communities within 60 miles of Morristown was $14.3 million, Hawk said. Non-local visitors contributed $13.36 million of that total. In 2009, the national park recorded 298,060 visits. Statewide, the economic benefits related to national parks in 2009 was $94.6 million, she said.

Hawk encouraged the local historical and recreational sites to work together to promote tourism in the county. “We are  stronger together,” she said.

Phyllis Oppenheimer, a tourism representative with the state Division of Travel and Tourism, said her career in government included time in President Ronald  Reagan’s White House when, in 1983, he began the promotion of National Tourism Week, which is celebrated this week.

Last year, she said, tourism generated $35.5 billion in business statewide, a small increase from 2009 in a bad economy. Estimates said that 70 cents of every tourism dollar spent in New Jersey stays in the state.

Tourism is the state’s third largest industry, supporting 310,000 jobs and generating $10.1 billion in wages and salaries, she said, and without the taxes generated by tourism, each homeowners annual tax bill would rise $1,367.

In 2010, Oppenheimer said, tourist-related activities in Morris County generated more than $1 billion, a 3.4 percent increase from 2009.

“It seems that Morris County is leading the recovery in the state of New Jersey,” she said.

David Helmer, executive director of the Morris County Park Commission, spoke about the layers of sites and activities Morris County can provide.

There are historical sites like the national park, or , where the telegraph was perfected, world-renowned gardens, golf courses, hiking paths and recreation facilities, he said.

The park commission will partner with the  this summer for a series of concerts that features a variety of music, Helmer said.

"This is an opportune time to get the message out," he said. "All of the components are here. Spend a couple hours here [at the historical park], then go into Morristown for lunch. Can and should Morris County be a real destination? We can."