ELBERTON, Ga. --- Along the quiet banks of Lake Russell, Elbert County's top development official envisioned a resort that would bring vacationers' dollars to the declining granite quarrying hub.
But now she's expecting delays in building the 120-room, lakeside lodge because developers are reluctant to bet on tourism projects during the weak economy.
"It's put a hitch in it all," said Anna Jones, the head of the Development Authority of Elbert County.
Officials in the northeast Georgia county aren't alone in their frustration. Elsewhere in Appalachia, towns trying to stay afloat by replacing dwindling blue-collar jobs with ones in the hospitality industry have been stymied by vacationers' reluctance to spend money.
For the past five years, the federal government has pumped millions into tourism projects in the region, including about $15,000 in 2008 to help Elbert County study where a lodge could be built.
Around the region, communities are stumbling again after only recently gaining a foothold in the tourism industry.
Promoters of the fledgling food-tourism industry in southeast Tennessee are fretting about how to entice eaters while working with a tight promotional budget.
Similarly, organizers of a million-dollar arts and crafts school in Galax, Va., have scaled back marketing as Americans prove less likely to travel for their bluegrass music classes.
In Helen, Ga., a Bavarian-themed getaway near the Chattahoochee National Forest, tourist-dependent tax revenue recently dropped.
In Elberton, Ms. Jones had estimated the lodge would create 50 jobs, and the tourists staying there would create a ripple effect throughout Elbert County. But the projected opening date has been pushed back to a decade from now, a delay of five years, if it gets off the ground at all.
Founded atop a deep vein of granite, the city of 4,500 boasts a granite museum, a fall granite festival and manufacturers who ship enough rock to earn the city the title "Granite Capital of the World," according to the Elberton Granite Association.
But a decade ago, businesses began trickling out of the city, which sits nearly an hour off the interstate. Then, Ms. Jones said, China and India entered the granite business. Next the housing crisis came along, and orders for granite countertops shrank.
In July, Elbert County had an unemployment rate of 12.3 percent and a bankruptcy rate of 1.3 percent, according to the AP Stress Index.
Tourism is a $29 billion a year industry in Appalachia, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal agency created in 1963 by President Kennedy to fight poverty. But too much is concentrated in a handful of areas, said co-chairwoman Anne Pope. In places such as Sevier County, Tenn. -- home to Dollywood and part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park -- almost 1 in 4 workers are employed in food service or hotels.
Southern cities are averaging a 12 percent to 20 percent drop in hotel occupancy and travel spending since July 2008, according to J. Dana Clark, who teaches hospitality and tourism management at Appalachian State University.
HARD-HIT REGION
The more than 420 counties that make up the Appalachian region have been hit especially hard by the recession, according to The Associated Press Economic Stress Index, which measures unemployment, bankruptcies and foreclosures at the county level.
Counties in the 205,000-square-mile area have seen a steeper decline than the nation as a whole. The counties had an average Stress Index score of 6.0 in November 2007, the last month before America slid into the recession, compared with a nationwide average of 5.4. In August 2009, Appalachian counties had an average stress score of 12.46, compared with a nationwide average of 10.32.
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