39. Tourism became the major industry throughout Appalachia
As mining, logging, manufacturing, and farming all declined in the second half of the twentieth century, the tourist industry expanded, and the exploitation of the perceived stereotypes of the Appalachian people and culture began. It was then that the image of the hillbilly, resented by many Appalachian people, began to be used in marketing and to attract visitors to the region. It continues to be used in the 21st century. By the 1980s Great Smoky Mountains, National Park was the most visited of all of the American national parks, and the resorts of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge had expanded, largely through the exploitation of the imagery which some of their neighbors found offensive.