Columbia County's fledgling tourism board will take a big step forward next week when it unveils a tourism-focused Web site that will be followed up with a 22-page visitors guide in December.

Columbia County Convention & Visitors Bureau will find its new home at www.choosecolumbiacounty.com, a site currently used by the county's industrial development authority.

Bureau Executive Director Beda Johnson said the site will be redesigned as a portal for both agencies so that information will be available to people whether they want to visit or bring new business and industry.

"This is our first big branding effort, and we're really excited about it," Ms. Johnson said. "We've placed a few ads, but this is really the first major step to getting out all the information about Columbia County to the public."

The visitors bureau was created this year after Columbia County officials let the county's marketing contract with the Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau expire in December.

The revamped Web site is tentatively set to go live Nov. 16.

Within six weeks, 30,000 copies of the full-color visitors guide booklet have been approved by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, which allows it to be distributed through the state's network of 11 visitor information centers and 24 regional visitor information centers.

The guide, produced by Augusta-based Mass Media Marketing, also will be distributed to attractions, hotels and restaurants in a 50- mile radius. Some will also be sent to selected markets, such as Statesboro, Athens, Madison, Conyers and Covington.

Though the bureau's visitors guide is designed to market the area to potential visitors, the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce's new resource guide is designed to market the area to potential new residents.

The chamber released the guide last month. The full-color magazine is designed to give residents, businesses and potential newcomers information on the county's history, cultural scene and geography, and listings of everything from community events to the place to go to get a driver's license.

The chamber said the resource guide will be distributed through physicians' offices, hospital waiting rooms, financial institutions and other locations where both long-time residents and newcomers can be found.

Reach Damon Cline at (706) 823-3486 or damon.cline@augustachronicle.com.