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By Scott Nicholson
While state tourist and visitor spending grew slightly last
year, this year will likely see some downturn.
According to analysis by the U.S. Travel Association, domestic
visitors to and within North Carolina spent a record $16.9 billion
in 2008, an increase of 2.1 percent from 2007. The number was
higher than the previous record of $16.5 billion set in 2007.
While county-level data won’t be available until mid-summer
for 2008 spending, 2009 is already looking like a tough year
for the tourism industry.
Mac Forehand, director of the Boone Convention and Visitor’s
Bureau, said, “We’re down 1.6 percent for lodging
revenue in Boone so far this year. Everybody is down for the
first quarter, and we’re down 9.6 percent in March. From
the buzz, April is better.”
Last summer, Boone, Blowing Rock, and Watauga County pooled
their resources for a combined campaign designed to promote
the entire area as a tourism destination, on the belief that
visitors didn’t differentiate between local boundaries.
“We’re concentrating on doing our marketing in North
Carolina,” Forehand said. “No matter what people think
about Florida, most of our visitors come from North Carolina.”
Wright Tilley, director of the Watauga County Tourism Development
Authority, said occupancy rates in the unincorporated areas
had also declined for the first quarter of 2009, though last
year the rate had increased about on par with the state statistics.
Tilley and Forehand both noted that March was an aberration
because the Easter holiday and the Bristol, Va. NASCAR race
fell in April this year.
“We’re definitely tracking a decrease in occupancy
tax in 2009,” Wright said. “In the calendar year of
2008, Watauga County reported a slight increase over 2007.”
Watauga’s occupancy-tax collection was up 3 percent last
year but down about 15 percent for the first quarter of 2009.
It’s down about 5 to 6 percent so far in April, according
to Tilley.
The statewide visitor-spending figures are the preliminary results
of an annual study conducted by the U.S. Travel Association
for the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division
of Tourism, Film, and Sports Development. The study uses sales
and tax revenue data, and employment figures to determine the
overall impact of visitor spending in North Carolina.
State tax revenues from visitors increased by 3.5 percent from
2007 rising up to $843.2 million in 2008. Local tax revenues
also increased, gaining 2.5 percent from 2007 to total $542.3
million in 2008. During the last five years, visitor spending
has increased 27.3 percent while state and local tax revenue
is up 20.7 percent.
The travel and tourism industry directly employees more than
190,000 North Carolinians, which remained flat compared to 2007.
The tourism industry generated a total of more than $1.3 billion
in state and local tax revenues, up 3.1 percent from 2007.
State tax revenue totaled $843.2 million through state sales
and excise taxes, and taxes on personal and corporate income.
Some $542.3 million in local taxes were generated from sales
and property tax revenue from travel-generated and travel-supported
businesses.
North Carolina also moved up in rankings in a study from TNS
TravelsAmerica. North Carolina was the sixth-most-visited state
in 2008, up from the seventh in 2007.
Forehand said travel and tourism agencies would continue to
work together. “Generally, the pie is getting smaller so
we have to fight as hard as we can to get our piece of the pie,”
he said.
Tilley acknowledged the key travel market was located right
off the mountain and could withstand an economy that might inhibit
traditional week-long family vacations.
“Our strategy right now is promoting a lot to in-state
residents, realizing that most people, if they take a vacation,
are more likely to take a short getaway than a full week,”
Tilley said. “I think you’re going to see travelers
taking shorter vacations and more regionalized vacations. The
unknown factor is what gas prices will do in the summer and
into the fall.”
Gasoline prices have increased more than 10 percent in the last
week.
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