Covered bridges and camping are just two of the things drawing tourists to the southern parts of Ashtabula County.
Stephanie Siegel, executive director of the Ashtabula County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said this year has been tremendous for tourism numbers.
“Our most successful promo for the south part of the county has been our covered bridge trail,” she said. “We found that, when people visited the covered bridges, they were only going to three or four covered bridges, and we wanted to find a way to move them around the county more, and introduce them to more.”
Ashtabula County is home to 19 covered bridges, including the longest in the United States, the Smolen-Gulf Covered Bridge, and the shortest in the United States, the West Liberty Street Covered Bridge.
Last year, the Ashtabula County Convention and Visitors Bureau launched an online covered bridge trail, offering rewards for checking in at bridges throughout the county.
“If you check in at five, you get a free pin, if you check in at 10, you get a free hat, and if you check in at all 19, you get a free tote bag,” Siegel said. “We have had several hundred people come to do the trail. That means that they’re moving all around the county, more likely to spend money and discover new places they haven’t seen. That’s a way for us to help move them around the southern part of the county.”
The trail has translated into visitors spending the night in the county and returning, sometimes with additional friends of family, to continue the trail.
“Now that we’ve opened the Geneva-on-the-Lake office, we’re really interfacing with visitors on a daily basis, and we’re able to talk to them and let them know about that trail,” Siegel said.
“I can’t tell you how many are then going out, saying ‘I’m staying at Geneva-on-the-Lake, I thought I was going to isolate myself to this little village, but now I’m going to go out and explore the entire area,’ discovering all these new things, and then doing the full trail and coming back to that office to redeem prizes.”
The trail is succeeding in its goal, to move people around the county, she said.
A link to the trail can be found at visitashtabulacounty.com/things-to-do/covered-bridges/covered-bridge-trail.
Camping is also a popular tourist draw in the southern parts of the county.
“Numbers are at an all-time high,” Siegel said. “Our campgrounds have really limited availability because they’ve become so popular, have so many assets that are affordable for visitors.
“We can’t keep our travel guides in stock at those locations.”
Visitors have been asking CVB staff for lists of river and lake access points for the public.
“So we’re constantly giving that information out,” Siegel said.
“We actually got free books from ODNR that tells river and lake access points for the public. We’re almost out of the river guides already. I think we’ve gone through six boxes, so we know there’s incredible demand.”
