MEMBERSHIP

How you can benefit from membership in the Blue Ridge Parkway Association:

Promoting Tourism for more than 70 Years

The Blue Ridge Parkway Association, founded more than 50 years ago, is a non-profit organization comprised of businesses serving visitors along the scenic corridor of the Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the tri-state region of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The Blue Ridge Parkway, the majestic highland boulevard connecting the Shenandoah's to the Smokies, is America's most popular national park.

 Blue Ridge Parkway Association members work together to offer more than 20 million annual visitors a broad range of family entertainment, recreation, shopping, lodging, dining and support services in communities along the scenic corridor's 700 mile length. Visitors understand that being a Blue Ridge Parkway Association member means a clear and durable commitment to the traveler's needs, season after season. They respond by coming back . .  and by telling their friends.

High Visibility For Members

Business for members of the Blue Ridge Parkway Association develops through a two-step process. First, the Association attracts visitors to travel the Parkway. Second, it steers them to the members' businesses along the Parkway to satisfy their travel and recreational needs. The Association helps attract vacationers to the Parkway area by distributing almost one million Parkway brochures each year. the Association also promotes the Parkway on this website, which includes your listing from the Blue Ridge Parkway Directory & Travel Planner .

The Association's primary emphasis is to encourage side trips by the 22 million-plus annual visitors, who then patronize member businesses in communities adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

·   To do this, the Association publishes the Blue Ridge Parkway Directory & Travel Planner - the only traveler's guide recognized and distributed along the Parkway's entire length by Park Rangers. Blue Ridge Parkway Directory & Travel Planner has been the Parkway vacationer's "bible" for more than 50 years! 250,000+ copies are printed and distributed annually along the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway, all North Carolina and Virginia State Welcome Centers, and most mountain area visitor information centers from Knoxville to Harpers Ferry. 

·  By purchasing additional lines in the Blue Ridge Parkway Directory & Travel Planner, Association members can reap even more exposure to the Parkway visitor.

To promote member's businesses across the continent, the Association also publishes the Travel Brochure File Folder which is distributed every year to AAA, tour buss and other travel information offices throughout the U.S. and Canada.

·  The Association also works closely with the superintendent and staff of the Blue Ridge Parkway on many projects of mutual benefit for the Parkway and Association members.

There is no better forum for a member to express his/her views concerning the Parkway to the National Park Service than through the Association.

Other important membership-related benefits include:
·  The BRPA newsletter which keeps you informed, involved and up-to-date on news and opportunities.
·  Regular membership meetings held in each geographical region. These offer a chance to meet and make new friends in the travel industry, develop new business ideas and solve problems, and to participate in shaping Association policies.

How The Association Works

The Blue Ridge Parkway Association's sole purpose is to bring more business to its members along the Parkway. Not affiliated with any government agency and strictly non-political, the Association is administered by a board of directors who are elected by the membership and serve without remuneration, and by a paid executive director. Members are encouraged to attend all Association meetings.

The Association is financed by membership dues and by extra-lines income received from its Blue Ridge Parkway Directory & Travel Planner. Revenues are put to work directly and indirectly in advertising and promoting the Blue Ridge Parkway and its member businesses, and in the administration of the organization  through its executive director.

Who Is Eligible

Travel related businesses in the region served by the Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah National Park and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are eligible for membership. This includes hotels, motels, resorts, restaurants, chambers of commerce, merchants associations, banks, public utilities, manufacturers, retail and wholesale businesses and travel attractions of all kinds.

Membership in the Blue Ridge Parkway Association is growing every year! Shouldn't your business be reaping the benefits of belonging to this dynamic association?

A Membership To Fit What You Do

The Blue Ridge Parkway Association's four classes of membership are explained below. In addition to the free directory listing lines with each membership, you may purchase more lines.

Class I: Destination Marketing Organizations: Chambers of commerce, travel organizations and associations, boards of trade, merchants associations, governmental agencies and other such groups that are financed by membership dues from among business firms and individuals directly or indirectly engaged in the travel business.
Annual membership dues: 
$265 - receives 4 free city listing lines in the Travel Guide*.

Class II: Travel attractions or any commercial enterprises financed primarily through admission fees
Annual membership dues:  
$265 - receives 3 free listing lines in Travel Guide*.

Class III: Business firms, agencies or any commercial enterprises financed through the sale or rental of goods and services.
Annual membership dues:
$215 - receives 3 free listing lines in Travel Guide*.

Class IV: Associate members and friends of the Parkway.
Annual membership dues: $25; no free Travel Guide listing.

* Additional lines are available for $40 per line.

Membership dues are payable at time of application. The Blue Ridge Parkway Directory & Travel Planner is printed once a year, and your listing cannot be put in it until the following spring. However, your listing can be added to the online Travel Guide immediately after you join.

Annual membership renewal dues will be billed every June 1; dues not paid within 60 days after billing may result in suspension of membership.