Focusing on the Richmond area's past is the way the region will attract tourists and generate income in the future, business leaders were told yesterday.

Just as Nashville has music and New York City offers Broadway, "Richmond is history, is tourism," said Bill Martin, director of the Valentine Richmond History Center, a museum that highlights the city's history.

Tout this former capital of the Confederacy and the land of Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, he urged.

Martin, who spoke during a morning meeting of the Greater Richmond Chamber, compared Richmond with other tourist locations and said the city needs to be more obvious. Parking and directions to area attractions should be more prominent. The river and canal also need to be more accessible.

"We need to support a walkable destination," he said.

Richmond as a region has a lot working in its favor: It's close to Interstate 95, low-cost airlines serve the Richmond airport, and shopping, dining, attractions and outdoor activities are abundant. In 2006, the latest year for which statistics are available, visitors spent $1.8 billion, according to the convention and visitors bureau.

Next year will be the 200th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe, who edited the Southern Literary Messenger while he lived in Richmond. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts expansion is expected to open late next year, and 2011 will be the 150th anniversary of the start of Civil War battles.

"When you think about the wonderful array of opportunities we have here right in our backyard, it's phenomenal," Jennifer Carnam, vice president of marketing for the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, said at the chamber event.

Keeping history fresh and cool is key, she said. Visitors bureau billboards read: "History rocks" and "History has its dates."

"History isn't stodgy, old or my eighth-grade field trip on the bus," Carnam said. "It can be fun. Museums and other attractions have to continue to refine their products and the exhibits to keep people coming."

Contact Emily C. Dooley at (804) 649-6016 or edooley@timesdispatch.com.