The passing of Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer and evidence is suggesting that this summer could be a banner year in tourism dollars for New Hanover County’s beach towns, including Wrightsville Beach.
Tourism is up both in New Hanover County and for North Carolina, which in 2014 was the sixth-most visited state in the United States, a study by Visit North Carolina and the U.S. Travel Association states.
Connie Nelson, communications director for the New Hanover County Tourism Development Authority, said that calculating the strength of the tourist economy can be difficult, but receipts of the room occupancy tax for hotels and other short-term rentals is a strong indicator of tourism.
“It’s a very tough number to capture how many people are here at any given time,” Nelson said. “We’re coming off of a really strong year and summer got off to a great start.”
In Wrightsville Beach, June room occupancy taxes were up over June 2014 collections by 4.79 percent. Overall, Wrightsville Beach 2015 tourism was up 6.52 percent over 2014 data.
New Hanover County was eighth of North Carolina’s 100 counties in tourism spending, the report said, bringing in $507.9 million in revenue, an increase of 6.33 percent over 2013.
John Andrews, owner of the South Beach Grill at 100 S. Lumina Ave., said his restaurant’s 18th year in business was a banner one.
“This was our best year on record, both in revenue and in the number of people served,” Andrews said. “We had more people than we ever expected.”
Andrews said that the weather helped his, and likely other, Wrightsville Beach businesses bring in tourists. Wrightsville Beach often draws from feeder markets like Charlotte and Raleigh, whose residents can decide whether to make the trip based on the weather conditions.
“There were no major threats from the Caribbean,” Andrews said. “That helps out tremendously.”
Andrews said this year’s revenue numbers make up for the decline the business saw in the recession of 2008.
“It made us rethink how we did things,” Andrews said of the economic downturn. “We highlighted putting forth a quality experience that would bring people back.”
Now that Labor Day has passed, Andrews said his business will see some decline, but will also see the return of locals from Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington who wait for the tourist crowds to thin out before coming back.
“As things slow down, we see more and more friendly faces,” Andrews said. “People tell us in the spring, ‘We’ll see you in the fall.’”
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