The Harlan Tourism and Convention Commission approved a plan to put maps showing areas of interest for tourists in local businesses during a recent meeting.

Harlan City Tourism Director Brandon Pennington explained the map project in an interview.

“The purpose of the map is a way to start looking at how we can capture tourists who do not come into the Harlan Center,” Pennington said. “We’re going to produce tear-away maps.”

Pennington explained tear-away maps are basically a large sheet containing multiple copies of a map which can be torn away individually.

“If visitors happen to come into town and don’t come into the Harlan Center, but do go into a restaurant or hotel or other business, then we want to still be able to give them information,” Pennington said. “It’s going to be an 11-16 printed map with 100 per sheet.”

Pennington said the plan is to ask businesses in the area if they will make the maps available to customers.

“All of our attractions are going to be outlined on the maps,” Pennington said. “It’ll have a map of Harlan County on one side, and maps of the six cities on the reverse side.”

Pennington pointed out the maps will be easy to read, easily portable and will contain all Harlan County Attractions.

“If we don’t happen to reach them in the Harlan Center, we’ll be able to reach them at places like The Portal or a different restaurant,” Pennington said. “It’s a way for us to do some promotion inside local businesses and reach more people.”

Pennington said several local businesses have already agreed to stock the maps. He added the maps will be available soon and are being printed locally.