The Greene County Chamber has already been busy scheduling tours for the year.

Tourism and Events Coordinator Angie Pedersen says as of mid-February, she has already scheduled over 500 individuals to visit and check out Greene County amenities. However, Pedersen points out that group tours are critical to the county’s tourism success.

“Those are really the bread and butter of what we do. Those are not necessarily the ones that come on buses. Those are groups of anywhere between 5 and 30 people that are coming to town in a couple of vans or an organized group, oftentimes those are quester groups or the Red Hat ladies. Those are the ones that really make up the bulk of the bodies that come to Greene County.”

The Chamber is also working on ways to expand their tourism coverage with their new tourism and business promotion guide publisher, Pioneer Publishing, The Iowan magazine, working with the Boone County Chamber to create a multi-day schedule and giving “swag bags” to visitors with coupons to use on future visits to Chamber member businesses.

Pedersen expects to schedule even more tours as spring and summer approaches.