On last night's Kentucky Tonight, we took an in-depth look at tourism and the role it plays in Eastern Kentucky's economy.

We visited Southeast Kentucky's Belle County, home to both a state and national park, which bring a wealth of opportunities to explore the region's scenic views.

Our Laura Rogers went to Pine Mountain State Resort Park, where she sat down with county officials to discuss tourism efforts.

Tourism has exploded here in comparison to what it was years ago.

But tourism wasn't top of mind when Bell County Judge executive L.B.

Brock came into office nearly two decades.

Ago.

When I first got elected, we did a study to see, you know, what we could do to grow our community.

We involved hundreds of members of the community.

You know, it ranked really high on potential.

Much of that potential centers around outdoor recreation and adventure, of which there is plentiful opportunity in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

We just got so much of it.

We've got, more public housing than any place in Kentucky by a lot.

We're the only county in the state that has both a national park and state park.

We've got two golf courses.

We've got places to fly, fish places to go, off roading, kayaking, whatever you like to do outdoors, chances are you'll find something here.

That list will soon grow with the arrival of a new tourism destination expected to open in 2027.

We've got the largest tourism project taking place in Bell County right now in Billings Ridge.

It's a 50 plus million dollar project that is estimated by USDA estimates, not, you know, stuff a developer, you know, has brought it to bring in over a million people a year.

With those expectations, we set out to learn more about Boones Ridge in the works in Bell County for more than a decade.

To the best of my knowledge, it's the largest, most aggressive tourism venue being developed in eastern Kentucky.

The nonprofit Appalachian Wildlife Foundation is the owner and developer of Boones Ridge, which sits on 12,000 acres outside Pineville.

Our mission is the environmental, education and economic revitalization of Kentucky's Appalachian region.

With an estimated year to 18 months left of construction, Boone's Ridge is already home to a resident elk herd relocated from other parts of the state.

What we've done is we've restored the elk population to this area.

We used helicopters to relocate, trap and transported elk over a three year period.

A couple hundred elk have now multiplied to more than 600 roaming freely.

In addition to that, we have an incredible black bear, deer, bobcat.

And wild turkeys, of course, are part of the birding experience, but abundant wildlife on site.

And the goal is for everyone to be able to enjoy that wildlife.

Accessibility is something that we're focused on.

We've created an accessible nature trail.

It's a paved, improved nature trail that will allow people with mobility impairments to actually get out and enjoy the wildlife in the wild.

Views.

There are stunning views from this eastern Kentucky mountaintop, an area once heavily dependent on coal that Frank Allen says will greatly benefit from the tourism dollars.

Boones Ridge aims to attract.

This is an area where the economy has been based on the extraction and export of the natural resources.

And what we're doing is showing the value in preserving and showcasing the natural resources.

The foundation has raised $74 million for the project, with the goal of another 20 million.

And they expect a big return on investment.

We're hoping that long after I'm gone, this will be an attraction similar on a much smaller scale to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.

This one will also be family friendly, with a big playground and a petting zoo, along with retail, restaurants and an aerial gondola.

Once that project gets off the ground and gets going, it's a game changer right of way.

Another game changer has been John Grace's efforts to organize musical performances and Bell County, like the Laurel Cole's Music Festival and Pineville and Levitt AMP Middlesboro Music series.

What has that brought to the community to offer these these live music opportunities and concerts?

It's been great.

I remember when I took over the position in 2016.

You know, obviously I knew being from here that our outdoor recreation, our frontier era history or kind of two pillars, but we were looking for just something else.

And events and event based tourism has been something that has really worked well for us.

We have an event like Laurel Cove Music Festival, which takes place here at the state park.

We've been really lucky and humbled that, the past two years, it's sold out in under five minutes before we even announced a band, which I never we would have never dreamed that that would have happened.

But we knew that with the setting, the venue at Laurel Cove Amphitheater, it's such a, esthetic, like an acoustically, it's just it's beautiful.

It's a great place to have a concert.

They've worked to build on that success with shows at Bell Theater and downtown Pineville, with the added benefit of bringing more foot traffic downtown to support small businesses like coffee shops, restaurants and retail, which you'll also find in Bell County's largest city.

Tell us more about the communities of Pineville and also Middlesboro.

Is a small community as well as Middlesboro, and we have local retail shops.

We have several little cute boutiques that have merchandise.

That is something unique to our area that you can only find here.

So it's a great place to shop local.

We have nice little restaurants in Middlesboro that have outdoor seating, indoor seating, lots of different, choices of meals that you can find and just enjoy being on the main streets.

And I'm sure you have a lot of out of town guests that come in to visit the state park here, and then they're also exploring the surrounding communities as well.

I know you all appreciate that support.

Yes, Pine Mountain State Park is a wonderful place to come.

Have a vacation.

You can do the hiking trails.

You can just explore the whole area.

Chain Rock is a special and neat little hike that you can take in.

Overlook the city.

Bell County is also home to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, located between Middlesboro and Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.

We're the only county in the state with a national park and a state park.

A lot of people don't realize that.

Which means double the opportunity for taking in the area's natural beauty, history, and culture.

Somebody is really going to stay busy when they come visit.

Yeah, yeah.

And that's kind of the whole idea is to kind of market it as a place you can go and have multiple things you can do over the course of several days or a week and, and try to find those cross sections where people can come and, you know, they can hike at the national park or the state park.

They can enjoy a live music event in downtown or in Middlesboro or, you know, the tons of other stuff.

The national park has got a great exhibit on, like the frontier area history of here.

We've got museums.

There's a lot of stuff to do here.

It's not an accident that our numbers have exploded.

It's been a lot of, vision and an effort and support has went into that.

And has that led to a larger economic impact?

Absolutely.

Your communities?

Absolutely.

You look at our community based on population and you look at Middlesboro and we've got multiple branded chain hotels there.

A lot of people make careers out of being in the hospitality industry.

So, you know, there's a lot of employment associated with it.

And then obviously, you know, they stay, they shop.

It helps our local business.

Who are new to this role, being executive director at Bell County Chamber.

So what would you like to accomplish and and see the chamber do in the near future?

I've lived in Bell County all my life, and I think it's the best place to to live and work and raise a family.

I am working closely with our two Main Street directors and with John Grace with tourism, and so we are really trying to push this area.

We want people to come stay.

We want people to shop.

We want people to explore everything that we have and give back to our area and grown to love it as much as we do.

Thank you so much for that, Laura.

You can see more of last night's Kentucky tonight, and we also take you on a tour of Boyd and Pike counties.

That program is online on demand at KETV.

Org slash K-Y tonight.