The future of tourism in Union County will be the subject of a meeting at the county museum Thursday morning.

Tourism director Auvis Cole said the meeting will involve “stake holders” — groups with a vested interest in tourism including Union County and City of Union officials, local business people and the S.C. Department of Parks and Tourism. They will discuss the state of tourism in the county including existing tourist sites, those in development and sites planned for the future. He said the county hopes to persuade the state to assist local efforts to develop more tourist opportunities.

“For us, being a small, rural county and we have a facility like John D. Long Lake, which right now is being underutilized,” Cole said. “With 80 acres of fishing available we’re going to report to the PRT that this is one of the sites in the county that needs to be developed.”

Following the meeting, the stake holders will tour the museum; the site of the planned Textile Baseball League Museum; Blackstock Battlefield; the Cross Keys House; Rose Hill Plantation; Union County Carnegie Library; Boogaloo Folk Life Productions; the Inn at Merridun; and downtown sites such as the Union County Courthouse, the old Union County Jail and the Union County Arts Center.

Union County is part of the North Product Development Area, one of eight Tourism Product Development Areas designated by the S.C. General Assembly. Thursday’s meeting and tour is part of an effort to develop detailed, long-range plans for each area. The effort is funded with money appropriated by the S.C. General Assembly in 2007.

A public forum on tourism will be held at in the USC-Union auditorium on June 16 to solicit comments about tourism in the county and any other subjects people may want to discuss.

For more information contact the Tourism Commission at 424-2340 or acole@countyofunion.com.