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Smoky Mountains earmarked for eco-tourism

The Great Smoky Mountains national park has been identified as a potential future hub for eco-friendly tourism, according to reports.

Participants at a conference on sustainable tourism said that the park could offer substantial benefits to communities in Tennessee and North Carolina.

The US government is set to offer a helping hand to the country's national parks this year with record spending to support routine operations and enable special projects, the Associated Press reports.

Some $1.5 million (£763,000) is set to go to the Smoky Mountains national park, which will allow new park rangers to be recruited and help develop a new visitors centre in Cherokee.

For development to go hand-in-hand with sustainability, however, there needs to be cooperation on federal, state and local levels, officials have stressed.

Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen said: "When it comes to such far-reaching and vital issues as conservation and sustainability, it is really through strong partnerships that we are going to be able to make a real and lasting and positive change."

The 520,000-acre Smoky Mountains park is one of the most biologically diverse reserves on the planet and welcomes some 9.2 million visitors every year.

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