decade, and last year had 24 million visitors. This, Governor Breathitt,
is a tribute to the natural beauty and the wealth of the improvements
that one finds here. And, yes, it is a tribute, too, to the aggressive
efforts made by your administration, and the administrations of your
predecessors, in attracting tourists to your area. It is not entirely a
coincidence, then, my friends and colleagues, that Governor Breathitt,
and I, working together to choose a main theme for this 1966 confer-
ence, selected natural resources, tourism and recreation.

If there is one characteristic that distinguishes our civilization from
all the others, it is its mobility. Motion, of course, is a human attribute,
but never before has the movement of mankind ranged over such vast
areas and at such rapid rate. Another of our characteristics is the
impulse to adventure—the inner compulsion, as we say in the verna-
cular, to "go places and do things. " These traits, coupled with a rela-
tively new development—the freedom we of this era enjoy from the
necessity of spending all of our waking hours wresting a livelihood
from a harsh nature—have produced a new social phenomenon and a
new industry—tourism.

Tourism has become a main industry of some of the nations of the
world, is ranked by our Department of Commerce as third in this
country—after manufacturing and agriculture—and is a principal
economic resource of many of our states, some of those represented at
this conference. For reasons already alluded to—with more leisure and
greater opportunities to travel—there is every indication that tourism
will become increasingly important in our economic and social scheme.
Our region, so richly endowed by nature and favored by both history
and geography, has enormous competitive advantages over other areas
for the development of the tourist business. It is a land steeped in
history, tradition and culture, with an equable climate and a terrain
unexcelled in beauty and variety. If we utilize to the fullest these
advantages, this new source of wealth will accelerate the economic
progress that we see all about us today in our area of the country.
In this connection, we have brought together here an imposing array
of talent and experience to discuss the varied aspects of tourism, parks,
recreation, natural resources and attendant subjects. This area of
governmental endeavor is certain to increase in importance with every
passing year, and I think we showed great wisdom when we established
our newest committee, the Committee on Tourism Development, and
gave the subject a featured spot in our program of this year.

At this my final conference with the Governors of the Southern
States, I should like, just briefly, to present some thoughts I have on

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