SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce officials joined Monday’s City Council meeting to discuss its Blueprint for Tomorrow initiative.

Darrelyn Bender, chamber president and CEO, discussed tourism and other goals the Chamber has planned.

The Eastern Shore now has a council to handle increasing tourism in the area, Bender said, adding that some goals include developing a branding campaign and an interactive tourism Web site for all the Eastern Shore, continuing weekend and holiday operations at the chamber’s Scenic Overlook office, installing an electronic billboard in that office and adding local athletic information to the Sports Alabama Web site.

The chamber also plans to develop a summer internship program for Eastern Shore high school students, develop a career awareness program and continue CHOICES, a program that teaches seventh-grade classes basic life skills such as balancing a checkbook.

“BFT (Blueprint for Tomorrow) was a five-year initiative made possible by cities such as Spanish Fort,” Joe Bullock, chamber chairman, said.

Due to the amount of visitors on the Eastern Shore, the chamber’s welcome center is now open seven days a week, he said. 

Until January it was only open Monday through Friday, he said.

“Initially the numbers were down for the entire year coming into April or May,” Bullock said. “Since then we have seen a great spike, especially over the weekends.”