My Internship at the Alabama Tourism Department

My name is Brooke Franco and I am an intern this summer at the Alabama Department of Tourism. Here are some of my reactions on my first day of my exciting internship.

After living in Montgomery for 22 years I thought that I knew a lot about Alabama and what goes on here, but as I finish my first day interning at the Alabama Tourism Department I am really taken back by all the various aspects and the tremendous effort that it takes to show the things that make Alabama such a great state. From sandy white beaches, to restaurants, golf courses, historical monuments, events, and big and small cities alike, there can be no expense in what can be promoted in and out of the state. One thing that I never realized is that almost any given day anywhere in Alabama there is an event going on. From the smallest and most unique events to the larger well-known festivals and activities, anyone anywhere could find something that would make them want to visit Alabama for. I was also amazed at how many different types of travel one could possibly do in Alabama. There are
countless historical sites to be visited, such as the Rosa Parks museum in Montgomery, Helen Keller’s birthplace in Tuscumbia, and the Hank Aaron Museum and Learning Center in Mobile. Golf fans will want to head straight to one of the eleven Robert Trent Jones Golf courses the state has. One can visit literary landmarks the state has like Monroeville, home of Harper Lee and Truman Capote, or the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery.
Another big thing that I learned on my first day as an intern was how much media exposure helps bring a better image to Alabama. From major companies using Alabama as a backdrop for ads their products appear in, to television shows and movies filmed all around the state, these are the kinds of things that help put Alabama’s name out. One of the more recent things that Alabama has been filmed for was for a documentary reality series named “On the Road In America” where four Arab young adults are traveling from Los Angeles to Washington learning about American culture and history. The show stopped in Montgomery to film a segment about the Civil Rights Movement.
As I complete my internship for the next six weeks there are so many new things that I want to learn about tourism and how it can be successfully done. From event scheduling, to creating advertisements, knowing facts and backgrounds of the places you are promoting, and everywhere in between, these are some of the important things that I hope to learn about tourism in the state of Alabama.