Darryl and Wendy Sywasssink are visiting the valley from Iowa.

"I love the Shenandoah Valley, its pretty, its scenic. It's kinda different than what we are used to," says Darryl Sywasssink.

And, that's what Liz Shereer Lewis, a tourist information manager at the Shenandoah Valley Travel Association likes to hear.

According to her records, last year was the worst tourism season in three decades.

"Right now, it's economic reasons, we have a decline in tourism in the Valley," says Lewis.

Lewis also says because so many of the attractions in the valley are outside. Hurricane Isabel, along with all the rain we has last year, didn't help the problem. There are also other factors that Lewis believes are contributing to the decline.

"We have a decline in grant money, state grant money is not coming into an organization like we have and it all complied itself." says Lewis.

In fact, because of budget cuts, grants have been nonexistent for the last two years. So there's been much less money available to promote and market tourism in the valley via newspaper and TV ads.

"We're a nonprofit membership based organization, that's not funded by a tax system or any general funds from any city," says Lewis.

But, Lewis believes the Valley has too much to offer and that they will bounce back. They are currently looking for residents and businesses to apply for memberships