How Helene has impacted North Carolina's tourism industry

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Fall is one of the busiest seasons in western North Carolina in terms of tourism. However, the region is expected to take an economic hit due to the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene last month.

Transcript

00:00Scott, overall, how is the state tourism industry doing after Haleen?

00:04You know, it's going to be a rough fall. We typically see about $2.1 billion in visitor

00:10spending in the western part of the state in the fall. So it's hands down the busiest or

00:15the second busiest season for the mountain region in the fall. And that's almost all but loss at

00:20this point. So as far as recovery efforts go, we have made tremendous progress in the last three

00:26weeks. I think if I was asked three weeks ago to see where we are today, I wouldn't believe some

00:31of the impacts that we're seeing. So we've got power restored to nearly all the region. Water

00:36is restored to the majority of the region. You're starting to see areas in the south of Asheville,

00:42in the Smokies, as we call it. Areas like Highlands, Bryson City, Hendersonville,

00:47Silva, Brevard, Cherokee are all great places that can be visited right now for fall color.

00:53They're lower elevation as you guys know. So the peak cold snap that started to turn the leaves

00:59just happened this past weekend. So there's still a good solid two and a half weeks,

01:02maybe longer of fall color to be had down in that part of the state that people can access and have

01:07a normal typical visitor experience. We're also seeing areas like Asheville start to come back

01:13as well. The downtown core of Asheville was relatively unaffected, has water, has power.

01:18Biltmore Village announced that they're going to be reopening the Biltmore Estate on November 2nd,

01:23so we're excited for that to come back online. And other areas close to Asheville like Black Mountain

01:27and Reboot Virile are also relatively unaffected and welcoming visitors again. So we're moving

01:33along. The high country is also a great area to visit. Ski time is coming up and ski season looks

01:40to be pretty promising this year as all of our resorts are planning to open on time with no

01:44impacts as well. So we're a little more blessed this week than we were a couple weeks ago.

01:50Are there some locations that are asking visitors to postpone their trips?

01:55Yeah, I think the areas that we're looking for are on the far western part of the state,

01:59some of the counties in the areas that abut the border to Tennessee north of Asheville,

02:04those are the areas that are a little bit more affected right now and are saying we're just not

02:08ready yet. And so those areas are looking for visitors to maybe plan ahead and bring a trip

02:14in the winter, see how they can help support relief efforts by maybe buying some gift cards

02:19or booking travel now for future to get that on the books for people. But those are the areas that

02:24are a little bit harder impacted and the roads are going to take a while to come back. We also

02:28have a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway that's open in the northern part of the state, but it's

02:32going to be a while before we get that full parkway open all the way down into the southern part of

02:37the state as well. So that's another area that's impacted as well. Grandfather Mountain came back

02:42open as well this week, another really beloved attraction up in the high country, but it's really

02:46those far western cities in the state that are going to be a little bit ahead of us and needing

02:51some time to recover before visitors can come back safely. And we're seeing your interactive

02:56website right now. Is that the best way for visitors to find out some of the latest travel

03:00conditions? Yes, we've got an advisory on our website. It's on every single page, so you can't

03:05miss it. Click that and that'll give you the latest updated information on where you can and can't go.

03:09We created a map, as you guys were able to show, to make it easy for people to understand

03:13where is it safe for me to go right now, where can I go right now, but maybe I need to do a little

03:17bit of planning ahead and preparing, and where can I, you know, not visit to unintentionally

03:24impede any recovery efforts that are taking place. So red, yellow, green, simple color coding system.

03:29We update that map on the regular every day to make sure that it's got the latest information

03:33and advisories from our local tourism offices to help people out. And really quickly, are there

03:38locations in western North Carolina that are encouraging tourists to visit now? Yes, great

03:46question, Bernie. Definitely the Smokies region is very much looking to get people to come visit

03:50right now. They were blessed to be relatively unaffected. So think parts south and west of

03:55Asheville. Areas like Highlands and Cashers, which are great, Land of the Waterfalls, Brevard,

04:01Cherokee, Hendersonville, which has great wineries and apple orchards. Those areas were unaffected by

04:06the storm, and so they're able to receive visitors right now and give them a normal, typical

04:11experience, and they're welcoming everybody back right away. So that's one area that we would

04:16highly recommend. And then the high countries, places like Boone, Blowing Rock, Grandfather

04:21Mountain, those areas are back online and looking for visitors to come as well. All right, Scott,

04:26you had me at wineries and apple orchards. Hopefully more people will be making their way

04:30across North Carolina. Scott Peacock, Director of Tourism, Marketing and Communications for Visit

04:34North Carolina. Thank you so much for joining us. Such great information that you provided for us

04:39this morning.

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