MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — At the recent 2025 Governor’s Conference for Tourism at the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place, Visit Mountaineer Country CVB won three awards and played a key role in another.

The tourism industry generates more than $9 billion each year in economic development and supports 60,000 jobs.

On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Visit Mountaineer Country CVB President and CEO Susan Riddle said they were a repeat recipient of the Future of Tourism award. The award for Visit Mountaineer Country CVB validates their work to leverage our assets while also laying the foundation for the future.

“We repeated for year three—the Future of Tourism Award—and that was really a huge honor,” Riddle said. “That award has focused on our apprenticeship program, workforce training, and professional development.”

Visit Mountaineer Country CVB launched a new website to improve their market and brand position while adding an artificial intelligence feature to offer greater assistance. The website creates a better platform for customer engagement and for businesses and destinations to manage their message.

“Which was a real pleasant surprise,” Riddle said. “That’s the result of what we do through our advertising and promotions, and this year we launched a new website with an AI chatbot.”

The trail network in the area has driven thousands to the region, especially post-pandemic. Trails now include unimproved, gravel, and paved options that each draw different users and need to be mapped so users from around the country know where they are.

“We have more trails of all types as far as outdoor recreational experiences concentrated in a confined in a defined geographical area, particularly in north-central West Virginia, than almost most places in the country,” Riddle said.

Visit Mountaineer Country CVB brought geocaching to the community with the international GeoWoodstock XXI that brought a worldwide audience to the area. Locally, Visit Mountaineer Country CVB won the Mountain State Tourism Development award, and the organizer, Mark Webb, was recognized with the Innovator of the Year award.

“For the work we did with Mark Webb on GeoWoodstock XXI,he won the Innovators Showdown award, so we’re doing great stuff, and we’re only able to do it through our partners,” Riddle said.

Earlier this year, Visit Mountaineer Country CVB reorganized to better the quickly changing tourism industry. The reorganization includes an apprenticeship program that prepares the next generation of professionals that will continue to grow the industry.

“They get to experience something in each one of those pillars,” Riddle said. “So, when they leave us, they are well-suited to know all of their opportunities that being involved in the CVB and tourism in West Virginia involves.”