Township Tour’s Goal Is To Make Franklin Tourism Destination

Representatives from local hotels are taken on a tour of the rose garden in Colonial Park.

Boosting the township as a tourist destination was on the minds of township officials June 17 as they took a group of hoteliers on a tour of Franklin.

The group – comprised of representatives from hotels within and without the township – was taken to spots that could be attractive to hotel guests, such as the Rudolf W. van der Goot Rose Garden in Colonial Park, the Hagemann House on South Middlebush Road and spots along Canal Road.

The idea, said Township Councilwoman Roz Sherman (D-Ward 3) was to get the hotel representatives excited about recommending sites in the township to their guests.

The tour was suggested by Tiffany Delaney, the township’s special events coordinator, Sherman said, during a meeting of a destination marketing group comprised of representatives from the township, the state, Middlesex and Somerset county tourism boards and the hotels.

The hoteliers, she said, “are here to understand and learn more about Franklin Township so they can speak intelligently to their guests and learn what beautiful places there are to visit, or active places for biking or hiking and things ike that.”

Two shuttles for the tour were provided by Hotel Somerset, she said, and the township provided box lunches.

Sherman said the township was able to get a grant from the state tourism board to buy space in the Rutgers Big 10 program guide.

“That was our first goal,” she said. “We have more to do with Rutgers.”

Sherman said the group also hopes to create packages with New Brunswick and Princeton that can be offered to visitors.

One member of the group was impressed by what she’d seen early on.

Touring the rose garden, Adriana Garson, sales manager for Embassy Suites of Piscataway and Somerset, said she’d be recommending the township to her guests.

“Especially in the summer season, we get a lot of people who come in for things like family reunions, and we always get asked, what’s in this area,” she said. “I didn’t realize that this park was here, so we’re going to be sending people over to this park for barbecues.”

“This is just beautiful, people would love to see this,” she said. “I can’t wait for what’s next.”

Also on the tour were Delaney, Mayor Phillip Kramer and township manager Robert Vornlocker.

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