Submitted by Bryan Fleuch, Associate Director of Marine Extension. UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant for the February 2026 NET Newsletter Southern Region Spotlight.
According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Georgia’s tourism sector generated $82 billion in economic impact in 2024. Tourism and recreation also represent the largest contributing sector of Georgia’s ocean economy as well. Given the Georgia coast’s reputation as a popular destination for millions of visitors annually, the need for balancing visitor experience and economic prosperity with proper management and stewardship is critical to sustaining Georgia’s coastal tourism industry and the communities that support it.
In response, University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant collaborated with partners from Explore Georgia, Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Manomet and the Darien-McIntosh County Chamber of Commerce to organize and host the 2025 Coastal Georgia Tourism conference in December. This is the fifth event since 2019 that Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant has organized to convene stakeholders to learn about current issues relevant to the state’s coastal tourism sector while also strengthening local networks and opportunities for future collaborations among participants.
The 2025 conference featured a mix of professional presentations, panel discussions and breakout sessions that addressed topics such as coastal visitation trends, public access and economic impacts of coastal fishing, the integration of science into tourism and community engagement, as well as conservation efforts driven by local tourism. Breakout session also addressed local cultural, eco- and agritourism initiatives, ethical wildlife viewing and marketing, government policy, disaster planning and resilience, and collaborative opportunities with local business and destination marketing organizations. The event concluded with a “Tourism Talk and Taste” panel that included the sampling of locally produced mead and farm-raised clams.
Eighty-one attendees representing tour operators, hoteliers, destination marketing organizations, local and state government, academia, and non-profit organizations participated in the one-day conference, which took place in the rural coastal community of Darien, GA. Of the 27 attendees who completed a post-conference evaluation, 96% ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ the conference was helpful for networking with other tourism professionals and that they can apply what they learned to their work. Ninety-three percent also ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ the conference was a good use of their time and topics were relevant to their work as tourism professionals. The next Coastal Georgia Tourism Conference is slated for 2027 but based on attendee feedback, organizers have begun the development of additional outreach activities for 2026 to help sustain networking and engagement opportunities for the participants.