The summer tourist season is almost here, and the mountains are a big summer stop for people looking to escape the stifling heat. This summer will be the first since the remnants of Hurricane Helene devastated much of the North Carolina mountains last September, and businesses there are banking on a big season to help with the area's recovery. Reporter Jane Sartwell wrote about it for Carolina Public Press, and she joins me now.
Marshall Terry: So, how are businesses in the mountains preparing for the summer?
Jane Sartwell: I think the keyword is hope. There's a lot of hoping and praying going on, and those last little repairs from stuff that was damaged in Hurricane Helene.
Terry: Well, you're right — some of the big tourist draws, like river rafting in particular, and the Blue Ridge Parkway also may not quite be like they were before Helene, right?
Sartwell: Yeah. There are, I guess, rumors — you could call them — that the Blue Ridge Parkway will be closed from blowing rock to Grandfather Mountain from early July through the fall for maintenance that was scheduled before Helene struck. This would be a terrible thing for those tourism-based businesses that rely on the traffic from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Rivers — Helene washed Rivers out with, I mean, I write in the story, an almost supernatural force. Some rivers, such as the Nolichucky and the Pigeon Rivers, are not anywhere near back to where you can get on a whitewater raft, but others fare better. Actually, I talked to a source who said that fishing is the best it's been in years because of how much the flooding kind of washed out the sediment and pollution, and the rivers are running exceptionally clear.
Terry: Fishing, another draw to the mountains. What do the numbers look like as far as the number of tourists and the amount of money they spent in the mountains before Helene? And is there any indication yet what those numbers look like since Helene?
Sartwell: Sure. So before Helene, 11.5 million people visited the mountains each year, bringing $7.7 billion into the economy. That's more even than the Carolina coast — Just a bit more. But also, people are more likely to stay overnight in the mountains than they are on the beach. So, just in Buncombe County, home to Asheville alone, tourists support 29,000 jobs. The fall tourism season was decimated. Obviously, the storm hit in September. The leaves reached full peak color about October, but they didn't see the revenue from that. I think after the summer it'll show a lot about where the trajectory of the region is going, but we don't have those numbers yet.
Terry: I'm sure many businesses would be happy to have a mass of tourists return to the mountains this summer. You said at the beginning of this — the big word is hope — but is there any concern that it's too soon, and that the region can't handle or meet the expectations of a huge influx of tourists?
Sartwell: Well, that's a good question. I think the region can — I mean, the mountains are fully open. Everyone's just hoping and waiting for people to come back. I think if you are traveling to the mountains, just go about your day. But I think empathy and compassion and understanding that these people went through the unimaginable — I think that's going to be a necessary kind of state of mind this summer.
Terry: So maybe just adjust your expectations a little bit if you're going up there.
Sartwell: Right. Some favorite places might be closed, but you might be able to find some new favorite places.