Politics

Senate appoints Danos to tourism board

By Bill Moss, Published: April 17, 2013

Robert Danos, a summer camp program director, Flat Rock Playhouse board member and former Henderson County Republican Party chairman, was appointed to the North Carolina Tourism Board on Tuesday.

Danos, who has been employed by Camp Mondamin and Camp Green Cove for 22 years, said he hopes to give voice to the N.C. mountains.
"I think that when you look at the travel and tourism the approach in general is what I see in almost every sector of state government, that the west has not been promoted heavily enough," he said. "I see a lot of things immediately in Henderson County — summer camps of course, agri-tourism, apple farmers — that could be promoted.
"In the west in general there are a lot of people in other states that still don't think of mountains and waterfalls when they think of North Carolina. They know about beautiful beaches and lighthouses but a lot of them don't know anything else."
He joined the Playhouse board in January, and thinks the theater merits promotion too.
"What is the state doing in terms of promoting the state theater? I don't know what they're doing to promote it but I'm going to ask."
Danos chaired the county GOP from 2008 until 2010 and was Henderson County coordinator of Gov. Pat McCrory's election campaign last year. The Senate appointed him to the state tourism promotions board on Tuesday.
The Tourism Board, which meets four times a year, recommends programs that promote the state as a travel and tourism destination, advises the secretary on the effectiveness of the state's tourism, film and sports development programs and promotes the exchange of ideas on tourism between state and local government agencies, private organization and individuals.