Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
MONTGOMERY COUNTY- With the preparations for Amtrak to embark on passenger rail in Montgomery County Executive Director of Tourism David E. Rotenizer recently discussed what makes Montgomery County special.
“When passenger rail gets here,” Rotenizer said, “that’s going to be a game changer like we’ve never had before. It’s really going to change the dynamic.”
Rotenizer explained that when the United States was formed, three counties were founded at that same time; Montgomery County is one of those original three. This is important because of where Montgomery County and the New River Valley are located. With the Appalachian Mountains to the North and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the South, Montgomery County is nestled in between them with the Eastern Continental Divide running right through the center. Montgomery County also is connected to three rivers: The James River, The New River and the Roanoke River. Rotenizer explains that this makes Montgomery County unique for tourism.
Because of the mountains, visitors on the passenger rail would have the opportunity to connect to outdoor recreation like the Appalachian Trail, the Transamerica Bicycle Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway and natural attractions like Bottom Creek Gorge.
Rotenizer and his assistant, Emma Cook, performed research and collected data for sports tourism and business tourism in Montgomery County in which they found Montgomery County has over 200 restaurants that tourists can explore and try. Rotenizer explained there are two types of tourism: marketing/destination development and business development. Where Montgomery County is a hub for many things, it hosts space for innovation as well which helps both types of tourism.
“Every community has outdoor recreation,” Rotenizer said, “Shopping, dining, culinary and all that, but innovation and technology adds a special something to this area. Blacksburg was the first electronic village in the world, back in the nineties, so the first e-commerce transaction took place here. There’s so much amazing innovation. It’s part of the DNA here.”
Blacksburg itself is the second largest town [not city] in the state of Virginia. With the impending Amtrak station and connection to the passenger rail, visitors and residents alike will benefit. This does not just mean change for Christiansburg and Blacksburg, but Shawsville, Elliston, Riner and Lafayette as well. This could open the opportunity to open travel packages based on demographic and day of the week for the area.
“In theory,” Rotenizer said, “someone could get on a plane in London or Berlin and fly into Boston and then take the passenger rail all the way down here. And, in theory, get on their bike and go on the Huckleberry trail up to Brush Mountain. That’s kind of the visual. Travelers oftentimes want to get off the beaten path and experience authenticity.”
