“Faith-Based Tourism” Growing Fast in the Greater Cincinnati Area

by Ken Ham
Featured in Ken Ham Blog

The subscription-only newspaper, the Cincinnati Business Courier, wrote an article about the booming business of tourism in the greater Cincinnati area—it’s now a $5 billion business and growing. And two attractions in particular are helping give tourism a significant boost with “faith-based tourism.” Of course, these two attractions are the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum—don't believe atheist lies about the impact (or lack thereof) of these two attractions.

The article states,

In Northern Kentucky, one of the drivers of tourism has been the addition of the Ark Encounter in Williamstown. Eric Summe, president and CEO of MeetNKY | Northern Kentucky CVB, said faith-based tourism is the fastest-growing segment for his organization. The Ark Encounter is bringing in as many as 40 buses a day, he said.

In fact, the Northern Kentucky CVB reorganized in 2016 to better serve faith-based tourism by having a sales manager dedicated to those groups.

Many atheist groups attack the museum and Ark because they hate the message of these attractions—that God’s Word and the gospel are true. And they hate Christians having the freedom to disseminate the Christian message in such a major way. But in opposing these attractions and spreading lies about them, they are actually trying to harm the tremendous economic impact the Ark and museum are having on this area, and stifling the creation of new jobs. What economic impact have local atheist groups had on Kentucky? None! But the Ark and museum have had a major impact bringing in millions of dollars to businesses and the state of Kentucky.

We frequently hear the claim that the Ark is not making any economic impact because Williamstown, the city where the Ark is located, is not seeing economic growth. Now it is true that Williamstown, Kentucky, has had little Ark Encounter impact because the economic impact is from Dry Ridge to Florence in Kentucky since Williamstown has not yet developed major brand name hotels or restaurants (though their website hints that this is coming). We pray that soon this impact will be seen in Williamstown as developers appear to be getting the vision.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation and local atheist groups have lied, and continue to lie, to malign the Ark and Creation Museum, but the truth regarding the impact is being made public as shown in the article excerpts above as well as in another article, “Florence Hotel Boom Serves Creationist Tourism and CVG Flights.” I encourage you to read this article, which talks about the creation of new hotels in Florence, a city not far from the Ark and museum.

We’re thankful for the economic impact of our two attractions on Northern Kentucky, but we’re even more thankful for the spiritual impact the Ark and museum are having. Thousands daily hear the good news of the gospel and the message of biblical authority—and that’s an impact you can’t measure with graphs and statistics.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.

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