- Beachbook
- Coastal Review Online
- Dare County
- Duck
- Island Free Press
- Kill Devil Hills
- Kitty Hawk
- Manteo
- Nags Head
- Nighthawk News
- Southern Shores
- Bill's OBX Beach Life
- N.E.S.T Online
- Natural Outer Banks
- Red Headed Beach Girl
- Rosie Hawthorne
- See more local blogs »
New tourism numbers deliver a mixed message
Visitors found a wider beach after nourishment in Nags Head.
“We do our best to understand what is going on behind the numbers,” said the managing director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau as he reflected on summer figures. “We don’t want to overhype big numbers.”
At the same time, he said, tourism officials don’t want to overlook numbers that fall short, either.
Gross occupancy and meals statistics are in for June and July, giving local tourism gurus a better picture of how the restaurant and lodging industries fared this summer. And Nettles is eager to see what August and September will bring.
Lodging rates in June jumped from last summer’s figures by nearly 18 percent, while restaurants brought in an increase of nearly 9 percent of what they earned in June of 2011.
“People were fired up about June,” Nettles said. “It was an especially strong month for us, but we are a little guarded about July. July was a little spotty and there were holes that were not there in prior years. From what we are hearing, people hit their numbers, but they had to scramble for them.”
July statistics were flat, with a modest increase in both meal and occupancy collections.
“That would explain the mixed reports out in the community,” Nettles said. “July is the biggest month of the year, and if you miss the numbers by a couple points, you’re hard pressed to make it up. I was glad to see we held even.”
Rental homes were the only industry among lodging facilities to see a gain in July, he added. Rental homes make up 80 percent of the Outer Banks lodging options.
According to the statistics, July gross occupancy receipts amounted to $111,091,066, which represents a 0.8 percent increase over last July. Gross meals amounted to $36.9 million, a 1.26 percent increase over last July.
Nettles noted that the tourism industry was working off of a particularly strong July in 2011.
“The July 2012 numbers are the highest on record,” he added.
The inflated June numbers, Nettles said, were in part due to the five Saturdays in June this year compared to just four during June of 2011.
While the Outer Banks is typically insulated from the national economic situation, Nettles said the effects have hit the beach community a little more than in past years.
Visitors, he said, are not spending as much money while here and working hard to find a discount. The low July figures may be proof of that, he said, because vacationers often look for June and August deals in lodging.
“People are taking the trip,” Nettles said. “It’s just a matter of how they are spending their money.”
Gross meal tax statistics can also be deceiving, he said. The 8.9 percent increase in June could be in part due to the need of restaurants to raise prices to keep up with rising costs.
Michelle Robertson, general manager of the Black Pelican in Kitty Hawk, said that this summer has been a strong one.
“We’ve had a great summer,” she said, adding that the popular beachside restaurant fared a little better than last summer.
Abbi Siler, marketing director of Kitty Hawk Kites, said business has been pretty consistent with last year.
“But the effects of Irene obviously had an impact on our numbers last year,” she said. The absence of storms during August, she said, has significantly increased sales for the store this summer.
“If we can continue the final weeks of the season without major storms, we are projecting to be up in sales for 2012. We’re crossing our fingers for great weather and no hurricanes this year.”
Visitation statistics on popular Outer Banks tourist sites remained relatively flat with a few exceptions. Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head reported nearly 100,000 less visitors this July than last. June numbers were equally as drastic, with more than 120,000 fewer visitors.
“It’s an anomaly,” Nettles said, “because the numbers are not consistent (with other visitation statistics). He added that visitation statistics are generally not a great indicator of occupancy and meal revenues.
The Wright Brothers National Memorial had 7,000 fewer visitors in July compared to the previous year. The North Carolina Aquarium, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Roanoke Island Festival Park and the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse all had numbers in June and July that were similar to last year’s figures.
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island attracted approximately 8,000 more visitors this July than last year. The Lost Colony had slightly fewer guests during June and July compared with last summer.
Nettles said he expects August to be a good month from a tourism perspective, and from research in social media, potential visitors are not still affected by the intense impact of Hurricane Irene last September.
“It appears folks are moving past that in their minds,” he said.
See what people are saying:
Join the discussion:
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment.
- MOST READ
- MOST DISCUSSED
- Senate budget bill looks at acquiring Oregon Inlet
- Tourism board told grant denial flouts free speech
- Three arrested after theft of safe from Stumpy Point
- Catch a good meal at Armstrong's
- Kitty Hawk motorcycle crash kills Barco man
- Cruise OK'd for indicted former bombing range boss
- Arts & Entertainment
- Dare Republicans challenge 3.25-cent tax increase
Hoi Toid says:
Jockeys Ridge had 100,000 fewer visitors in July, Ft Raleigh and The Lost Colony had fewer visitors. Maybe simple reasons, we had alot of returning visitors. Why would they go to the same attraction again. Been there, done that. We also had alot of RAIN. I believe The Lost Colony had alot of washouts this year. Same thing with climbing Jockeys Ridge. Don’t think I want to climb that hill in the rain.
Occupancy and meals were up. More visitors but the same “Ole” attractions. No hurricanes as of 09/05. The tourist industry should have no complaints this year
You forgot one statistic. Beach driving at Oregon Inlet and Cape Hatteras were down. Need I say more.
obxdad says:
We need to work harder to promote our fall seasons – darn school year kills my rental income.
Robyn says:
There’s another factor–particularly in regards to Jockey’s Ridge–the unrelenting heat and humidity. Much too hot for me to climb thosde dunes.
jackie harris says:
The sales amount has got to be higher with the price of food going up on account of fuel prices reaching the highest level ever according to AAA. The DOT may have a vehicle count across the bridges that would be a indicator also!.
JimH says:
The root of the problem is the self-imposed, never ending quest by the tourism board to entice more people to vacation here. It is driven by the businesses who can never make enough money. As more people come the need for lodging increases, which results in more businesses opening, which in turn need even more people to support them. Along with the new tourists come the traffic and crime increases, which nobody wants.
Additionally the northern beaches (Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, and Kitty Hawk) have attracted multiple chain restaurants and stores that wipe out local restaurants and stores, along with profits that would be spent locally or at least benefit a local owner. These jobs don’t really add anything to the economy because they typically don’t have decent benefits, pay good wages, or offer year round employment.
The county would be better off without a tourism board that focuses only on receipts. In reality fewer lodging options would help to drive prices up versus bringing them down or holding them stagnant. This would bring in more affluent tourists, which would help out the local economy.
Hatrasfevr says:
Michelle/Lee…….do you ever record/quote/segregate the numbers from the Villages in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area? If you segregate the ‘good news’ you might find that there is significant ‘bad news’ from the area south of Whalebone. Your numbers need to be reviewed………businesses and people south of Whalebone are in trouble and you are not representing their situation at all.
Go south of the Bonner Bridge and ask some questions…..you might get the ‘bad news’ you have been avoiding.
It Figures says:
Relying only on occupancy rates and restaurant sales gives a false picture of the summer. Sure people are coming down, and they have to have a place to stay and food to eat. What they DON’T have to do is spend money on other things. And it is the small businesses that take the hit economically.
Maslin says:
@Hatrasfevr: You can see all the data on the Chamber website. The occupancy receipts are actually broken out by town if you click on the one called “Occupany Receipt Comparisons May, June, July 2012″. Also the document titled “Visits to Area Attractions” includes visits to the National Seashore itself, as well as the visitor’s center, the ferry and everything in between.
http://www.outerbankschamber.com/economy-home/economic-reports-for-the-outer-banks/
Harold says:
We should take consideration about people’s confidence in the overall national economy into these statistics also, and consider ourselves lucky to have had a decent year. People generally are a little nervous and lots of people are cautious about how they’re spending their money, given the continuing discussion of the flat economy, Luckily for us, we have a fair share of our tourists from the Maryland/Virginia suburbs of DC where the pinch hasn’t been felt quite as badly due to government spending.
Then to Hoi’s point, the July weather was a little screwy with off and on rain squalls probably keeping people in their beach house pools or near their vacation home base. Face it, there aren’t a lot of foul weather attractions here. And then there’s the whole NPS driving issue.
I think we should consider ourselves lucky.
Salvo Jimmy says:
To me the best indicator of number of folks here would be comparision of water volume consumption. Particularly for the villages on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.
I would guess year to year few visitors are conserving when on vacation so consumption per person would not vary much and resident conservation would not vary that much year to year.
Obviously not 100% accurate but surely another very good indicator that lacks price variation.
katie says:
I agree with Hatrasfevr….
I run a store down in Avon and this year was horrible as far as numbers go. I was down big time. Is Hatteras Island not considered Dare County anymore?!? No one ever seems to talk about it…. just saying
And yes, we have many returning Visitors who have done this and that already. The Outer Banks is more for the laid back individuals who want to relax when they go on vacation….of course there are things to do, but do we need to be turning this place into another Myrtle Beach, or Ocean City??? Thats why we get visitors in the first place…they are tired of going to those kinds of beaches, but yet our beaches are turning into just that.
janiemac says:
There are those of us who travel that do not fit into the tourism statistics. I intentionally search out other means of entertainment to stay away from tourist attractions & crowds. Those are the things that encourage me to come back. From a tourist perspective I was disappointed visiting the OBX for the 1st time to discover the commercialism of what I expected to be a quaint uniqueness of the barrier islands. Simply too much clutter! More is not always better.
chaser says:
janiemac…the town of kdh sold its soul along time ago.
...... says:
i own a retail business in buxton and looking at our books from last year to the day hurricane irene cut us off and comparing the numbers to this year to the same date, we are flat with last year. our spring business was almost non existent and it seems our busy summer season was from the middle of july to the middle of august. we’ve gotten to the point that we just consider any business after day as a bonus. it’s slow down here now.
Jon says:
Uh, people, OBX is over 100 miles of beach from Carova to Ocracoke, neither of which resembles Ocean City in any way other than the presence of sand and salt water. Between those two, yeah, KDH is built up in an ugly fashion, but it’s still a lot nicer than Ocean City, and KDH is only 5 miles of beachfront (and storefront).
Ocean City claims 300,000 visitors per week on 10 miles of beach, vs. 200,000 for OBX on ten times the length of beach. Thus, OC’s average density is 15 times OBX’s.
Go to the boardwalk in Ocean City in July and compare with the most crowded beach in OBX–say KDH in front of the hotels–on the same day. Then compare OC at 140th St. with South Nags Head. And then compare Assateague with Ocracoke or Carova. You still want to go to MD? I sure don’t.
And how exactly is Avon turning into Myrtle Beach?
The Pessimist says:
Simply, Outer Banks is OVER-RATED. Too many rental homes and not enough seclusion. Forget northern beaches. Hell, after you hunt for beach rights with the National Park Service southern Hwy12 you might just get some seclusion along the lonely stretch.
Ozzie-loves Hatteras says:
Janimac…. if you still long for a quiet and a much less commercialized spot to stretch out come on down to Hatteras Village. South of the Bonner Bridge still has some of the old OBX feel.
Salvo Jimmy says:
Also total sales tax receipts, including meal tax, would seem a better indicator than just meal tax. Still a price variation problem but would account for folks not eating out.
jamie says:
Out door activates were down because it rained all summer
kitty hawk shop owner says:
Lodging and meals…of course people gotta sleep and eat. What about everything else? I own a small shop in Kitty Hawk. We have been dead this year. Our whole shopping center (all quaint & locally owned and operated) is way down, not just my shop. Sure, folks are coming in, milling around and taking a break from the heat, but they surely aren’t spending money.
Mr Nice Guy says:
Too much traffic is the word in KDH area. Who wants to sit in dangerous traffic to get a meal or shop ? What you do is shop for groceries and park yourself at the beach house.
beacheye says:
The visitors bureau’s philosophy is simply “We got you here, now go wander around aimlessly, hope you like it enough to come back.” They need to do something that might help people to get the most out of their OBX experience while they are here. If done, this will probably add a few dollars to the area economy. I realize that this thinking is somewhat forward in nature, so, it probably won’t be implemented.
Raz says:
It seems to me that people are still willing to pay for experiences and memories, just not trinkets and junk. If you have a trinket shop you might be in trouble but if you sell experiences and memories, like hang gliding, a good meal, etc you are probably good for the long haul.
deb says:
Lowes was the last straw to ruining the nature of our beaches.My dad is a native and we vacationed here for 30 years because of the quaint uncluttered beaches and local businesses.Now i live here,can not catch a flounder or drive on the beach or park my cooler by the surf and just enjoy our natural beauty.We need to return to OBX basics that our tourists enjoy and talk about and return next year for more!!!
overit says:
Okay deb. Backward thinking will get us nowhere! We can all see you are thinking about yourself. We’re over the “native” rants!! Go with the flow, or get left behind.