Chickamauga City Council Monday night unanimously approved a plan for developing tourism regionally.

City Manager John Culpepper has been working closely with J. Olney Meadows,senior planner with Coosa Valley Regional Development Center.

The goal is to develop a regional tourism project involving Dade, Walker and Chattooga counties and the cities of Trenton, LaFayette and Chickamauga," Meadows said. "Any other interested parties are encouraged to participate, such as the local governments, chambers, civic clubs and historic societies, for the purpose of developing two tourism corridors and one tourism gateway."

The gateway will be Chickamauga. The first corridor will include Dade, Walker, Chattooga and Chickamauga, while second corridor will involve Heritage Hill beginning at Ringgold Gap.

"The goal is to invite descendants of those who fought both in the Southern and Northern armies in the Battle of Chickamauga," Meadows said. "The project will develop a marketing plan, including a website, brochure and sale items."

One idea is to sell pictures of Bluebird Gap and replicas of Chattooga Academy in Walker County. In Chickamauga the focus will be selling replica canteens with Crystal Springs water in them, he said.

"One angle is that, for every tourism dollar spent, it would cause a chain reaction in the community," Meadows said. "There are two types of tourism dollars — those who come for day trips and those who come for the typical two-night stay."

On average, day tourists spend $40 and night tourists spend $100, he said.

"We would like people to stay for bed and breakfast," Meadows said. "Tourism dollars take very little out of the economy and do a lot of good things."

The projected goal is for thousands of tourists to come to this area, he said