Visitors to Maryland spent about $14.3 billion in MD, sustained over 130,000 full-time jobs and generated nearly $2 billion in State and local taxes in recent years. Tourism’s influence on the Maryland economy and some of Maryland’s unique heritage tourism assets will be highlighted at MACo’s upcoming Summer Conference.

Beginning with a panel discussion, John Fieseler, Executive Director, Tourism Council of Frederick County and Margot A. Amelia, Executive Director, Maryland Office of Tourism, MD Dept. of Business & Economic Development will share ways in which tourism supports local economies and how growth and innovations in local heritage, maritime, and recreational tourism are changing our tourism industry.  Then, in a special presentation, Vernetta Pinder, local re-enactor, will perform a brief portrait of Harriet Tubman, who was born in Dorchester County, Maryland.

Dorchester County, Maryland is celebrating a special anniversary this year – the 100th anniversary of Harriet Tubman’s passing. As described at the County’s Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center,

Underground Railroad ‘conductor’ Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County probably in the 1820s. . . After growing up on the Brodess Farm in Bucktown in Dorchester County, Tubman later escaped from slavery and returned 13 times to lead other enslaved people to freedom using the secret network of people and sites known as the Underground Railroad. She later served as a Civil War spy and nurse, a suffragist, and a humanitarian.

To attend this special event, register for the MACo Summer Conference.  Online registration is still open!