Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition Named Event of the Year

Montgomery, Ala.— The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Mobile was named Alabama’s 2005 Event of the Year. The award ceremony took place during the Alabama Governor’s Conference on Tourism at the Embassy Suites in Montgomery, with approximately 250 state tourism leaders present for the occasion.

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition was January 20 through May 8, 2005. The exhibit, a collaboration of the Gulf Coast Exploreum and the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem, featured scroll fragments from the Hebrew Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament, and 80 archaeological artifacts.

More than 200,000 visitors saw the exhibition in the 105 days it was shown at the Gulf Coast Exploreum in Mobile. Of that number, 52 percent came from outside Alabama and 40 percent spent at least one night in Mobile. The estimated economic impact on South Alabama was $12 million-$14 million.

Leon Maisel, president and CEO of the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau, said, “This event showed the nation that both Mobile Bay and the state of Alabama are world-class exhibition venues.”

Criteria for the award include outstanding performance, outstanding economic impact statistics, quality and effectiveness of marketing efforts, additions and/or improvements designed to increase appeal to tourists, increased attendance, and enhancement of local, regional or state image as a tourist destination.

The award that was presented is among 12 that comprise the Alabama Tourism Awards. These awards, first given out in 1998, annually honor outstanding achievement in the state’s tourism industry. Each award winner is recognized as a key player in making tourism a strong economic force in the state. The tourism industry contributes $7.3 billion to Alabama’s economy and supports 157,200 jobs statewide.

ABTT coordinates the Alabama Tourism Awards Program. The full list of award winners is as follows:

Alabama Tourism Hall of Fame: Walter E. Penry, Jr., Daphne
Alabama Attraction of the Year: Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail
Alabama Event of the Year: Dead Sea Scrolls, Mobile
Alabama Governor’s Tourism Award: Race Fever, Talladega
Alabama Tourism Advocate Award—Government: Loretta Spencer, Huntsville
Alabama Tourism Advocate Award—Media: The Daily Mountain Eagle, Jasper
Alabama Tourism Employee of the Year: Colette Boehm, Gulf Shores
Alabama Tourism Executive of the Year: Herbert Malone, Jr., Gulf Shores Alabama Tourism Organization of the Year: Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, Gulf Shores
Alabama Tourism Partnership Award: West Alabama Hunting and Fishing Trail, Tuscaloosa
Alabama Welcome Center of the Year: Ardmore Welcome Center, Ardmore
Director's Award: FOX6 WBRC-TV, Birmingham