Marketing Plan for Adventure Tourism
in Knott County
For the complete Knott County Marketing Plan in Adobe PDF format, click here.
Click here for Knott County Strategic Plan - Phase 1 (completed) - PDF
Click here for Knott County Strategic Plan - Phase 2 (currently being implemented) - PDF
Click here for the Knott County Mapping and Identifying Land Owners along the proposed Adventure Tourism Trails Report, PDF
Over the years, Knott County has lagged behind other counties across Kentucky on capitalizing on tourism as a revenue source. Tourism dollars generated increased less than $100,000 from 2003 to 2004. And from 2005 to 2006, the increase was not much better.
But this is changing. In 2006, newly appointed Judge Executive Randy Thompson decided Knott County needed to capitalize more on its many outdoor recreational opportunities. Very quickly, both ATV and horseback riding trails were developed and adventure-based events were planned. Within one year, Knott County experienced nearly a $200,000 increase in tourism dollars totaling 4,029,129 which nearly doubled the increases generated in previous years.
In the Fall of 2007, Knott County declared itself the "Elk Capital of the East" and began consorted efforts to establish itself as the first ever "County-wide Adventure Tourism Park System" by creating a skate park, an ATV Safety Training Center, numerous trailheads and an elk view station.
The Knott County Tourism Commission was formed in 2007 to help market these efforts. Immediately it was evident that the Commission needed to first become familiar with all Knott County had to offer then develop a plan and marketing materials to fully capitalize and promote each attraction and multitude of events that were happening throughout the county.
In the Spring of 2008, Knott County Tourism Commission was awarded an ARC Flexi-Grant through the Kentucky Department of Local Government to develop a marketing plan for adventure tourism in Knott County. WMTH Corporation was hired as the consultant on this particular initiative.
