"Wilmington, North Carolina resident Bob Jenkins has been awarded the Charles J. Parker Award by the North Carolina Travel Industry Association (NCTIA). The annual award recognizes outstanding contributions made by individuals to the state’s tourism industry. A North Carolina native, Bob Jenkins is a historian, preservationist, and tourism advocate who founded Wilmington Adventure Tour Company in 1985. With nary a website, email address, or FaceBook page, Jenkins’ customized history tours of Downtown Wilmington have gained local, national, and international media attention, casting a broad spotlight on North Carolina tourism...

This year’s Parker award recipient, Bob Jenkins, understands the important and symbiotic relationship between the preservation of architectural treasures and heritage tourism. Prior to founding Wilmington Adventure Tour Company, Jenkins was a pioneer of Downtown Wilmington’s preservation efforts during the 1970s. By the mid-1980s, Jenkins’ entertaining and informative history tours were giving people a reason to come Downtown—long before the Riverwalk and merchant district were able to boast nearly 200 shops, restaurants, and museums. While Jenkins’ tours focus on Wilmington and the Cape Fear River, he also weaves in historical facts about the state’s entire coast, as well as the Piedmont region as it relates to the Cape Fear River."

Cape Fear Business News (11/16/09)

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