Alabama Tourism Department

Day #1 is in the books! 10 tour group operaters here with National Tour Association and Alabama Tourism Department for 3 days to learn everything about Visit Mobile. Tours of USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park, National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico, & Mobile Carnival Musuem to learn all about Mardi Gras. #BorntoCelebrate

Auburn-Opelika Tourism is grateful for our local partner Ithaka Hospitality Partners, who recently visited the new AOT office to bring lunch, tour the space, and show their continued support of AOT's growth in the community. Partnerships like this are vital in fostering connections and expanding opportunities that benefit the local communities. Our new office is located at 312 N Gay Street (you can't miss the sign).

?Two young women who ventured to Alabama as part of a World Heritage USA International Exchange Program discovered good friends and a subject matter that is now dear to their heart. ? Janet?Adesina of Nigeria and Katherine Chalmers of Australia came to Alabama to help with planning and interpretation on the National Park Service’s Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.?They were immersed in the history of the civil rights movement as they worked with staff at the three Interpretive Centers along the trail.?We spoke with?Janet?and Katherine at the National Park Service’s Montgomery Interpretive Center of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in August of 2024, as they were finishing their exchange program. ? The Selma to Montgomery march took place in 1965 a few years after?Janet’s home country, Nigeria, gained independence from British rule.?She saw many similarities in the two movements, a world apart.?As for all the rumors that Alabama is so hot during the summer months,?Janet?said it wasn’t near as hot as her country in Africa. ? Janet?described her work in Alabama with the National Park Service as memorable and expressed gratitude to all the nice people she met during her stay. Visiting local churches and community?events while in the US,?Janet?said she recognized parts of the traditions, lifestyle and services that directly reflected traditions in her home country. ? Katherine came to Alabama with knowledge of interpretation as she has spent most of her early career as a heritage consultant focusing on the interpretation of Australia's Aboriginal and colonial history.? ? As a participant in the World Heritage USA International Exchange Program, her work was especially rewarding because the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, authorized the National Park Service on July 16, 2024, to prepare a potential nomination for 11 U.S. Civil Rights Movement sites to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List including the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The bridge is part of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail where Katherine and?Janet?were assigned to work. ? Katherine said she would take the experience of working with the National Park Service and the knowledge she learned during planning sessions and community meetings back to her work in Australia. She hopes that more young adults from around the world get to come to Alabama as part of the World Heritage USA International Exchange Program. ? Events that took place in Alabama changed the world.?For?Janet?and Katherine, working alongside the National Park Service on the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail has changed their world.