Sharon Calcote

Sharon has served the tourism industry for 30 years. She is a researcher, grant writer and develops tourism product, as well as marketing initiatives. Sharon conducts economic strategic planning, community inventories and assessments, helps communities develop viable marketing plans for small to shoe-string budgets, makes presentations on a variety of topics and serves as a clearinghouse for information, best practices and research. She has been nationally recognized for pioneering new tourism product development techniques that helped the tourism industry concentrate more on stories than sites. Her focus was the “peopling of the process.” She believes that when the stories of the people are told, the sites and attractions make sense. Her projects have been used as national case studies by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Louisiana Folklife Commission and the Southern Anthropology Association.

She has served on several state and national boards and commissions, including the National Park Service Lesser Known Sites, National State Development Agencies Advisory Board, and the State Bond Commission, and has authored many articles on rural tourism development.