CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WV News) – West Virginia Commissioner for Tourism, Chelsea Ruby, will become one of the state’s two new cabinet-level secretaries.

Ruby, who served as tourism commissioner across the judiciary, said it was an “incredible” honor to be a valued member of the governor’s team.

“No other governor has ever promoted tourism like he has,” she said. “Thanks to his leadership, we are ready to finally tap the full economic development potential that people have been talking about for decades.”

Ruby and former Senate President Mitch Carmichael, who will serve as Secretary of the Department for Economic Development, attended a brief ceremony Wednesday to see the governor officially sign the bill.

“It was an exciting day to see how this came about,” she said. “It was also exciting to see the level of support for the bill. It shows you that people across the state believe in the potential of the tourism industry. “

While most people first heard of Justice’s idea of ​​raising the two authorities during his State of the State address in 2021, it’s a move he pondered for a while, Ruby said.

“Since day one, since my very first interview with Gov. Justice, he’s been talking about ways to promote tourism in West Virginia, and I think this was just another step in his plan,” she said. “We have had incredible results over the past four years. For the past four years we’ve worked hard to develop, launch, and now expand the Almost Heaven brand, and we will continue to do so. “

The decision to increase their office shows how serious West Virginia is about tourism, Ruby said.

“It increases the overall tourism industry – it sends a message to the world that West Virginia tourism is really important, and we see tourism as a growing engine of the state’s economy,” she said. “The second thing it does is get the bill into language that reinforces our commitment to the overall brand of the state. So you’re going to take advantage of some of these great initiatives. “

Part of it will be trying to capitalize on the unique moment the state appears to be going through, Ruby said.

“Between our state’s response to COVID and the launch of the vaccine, the Hyperloop project and the newest national park, we’ve seen incredible coverage,” she said. “And we need that. We need to keep West Virginia in these national and international headlines. “

Although the judiciary has said it would welcome legislators to cut relatively flat state budgets for the next three years as part of its plan to abolish income tax, they don’t think this will pose a challenge to the goals of continuing to grow and self-evident to develop tourism, said Ruby.

“Our office has a fantastic program called the Cooperative Promotion Program, a public-private partnership program for working with private tourism companies across the state,” she said. “We continue to see growth in this fund and I think we will continue to grow that growth. I therefore assume that despite the level of the state with the general income budget, we will continue to expand our efforts with partners and further intensify the massage of state branding. “

Ruby, who previously worked for Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s administration and was the state’s bicentennial executive director in 2013, said she was humble at receiving the judiciary’s continued vote of confidence.

“It is an incredible honor for me to have the governor and lawmakers believe in this organization, but it’s not about me,” she said. “It’s about the fantastic team we’re promoting tourism here in West Virginia.”

Executive officer Charles Young can be reached at 304-626-1447 or cyoung@theet.com

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