As the mountains’ foliage shows early signs of its autumn splendor, North Carolina tourism chief Wit Tuttell offered a sobering assessment for western North Carolina in Tropical Storm Helene’s aftermath.
“I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be devastating to the fall travel season,” Tuttell said in an interview earlier Tuesday. At risk is an estimated $1.8 billion in visitors’ spending to western North Carolina this fall. By season, the fall contributed 24% of tourism visits in North Carolina in 2023, ranking behind the summer at 26% and ahead of spring at 22% and winter at 14%, he said, citing his organization’s research.
By tourism spending, autumn may be the biggest season, Tuttell explained, because “I think the rates are probably typically higher in the fall because it’s sort of a more concentrated season when people will come. So that’s a lot of money to lose and a lot of tax revenue and a lot of jobs.”
For now, traveling is difficult, if not impossible, in some areas of the mountains. “Do Not Travel In Western NC,” the state Department of Transportation posted on digital highway signs, along with an advisory last weekend stating that “about 390 roads, including areas along Interstate 40 and dozens of highways in the foothills and mountains, were closed due to flooding, downed trees, landslides or catastrophic damage from Helene.”
Mudslides blocked I-40 in in McDowell County and along the Tennessee border, as well as “in countless rural corners of the Mountains…where the typical fall sights of scenic waterfalls and colorful foliage have been replaced by total destruction this year,” according to a Sept. 30 blog by the N.C. State Climate Office.
Helene spared some mountain communities, such as Cherokee County, where “they have power, they have the internet, businesses are open and ready to host people,” Tuttell said.
“I’m sure some of these places are going to respond and recover more quickly than we anticipate, and we will be back on their feet pretty quickly, but some aren’t,” he said. “It’s going to be a challenge in getting people into those places that are ready to accept visitors and keeping them away from the places that aren’t.”
Another challenge, Tuttell added, “is how do you get people in and out of those areas right now when you’ve got such highway infrastructure issues, and how do you make sure they don’t get caught up in any of the other stuff or even complicate the rescue and the recovery efforts that are going on?”
Repairs to roads and bridges damaged and washed away by the storm “aren’t quick fixes,” Tuttell said. Western North Carolina “already had a housing inventory problem before this ever happened,” possibly crimping the supply of hotel and other accommodations for tourists if people displaced by Helene move there temporarily.
In an Asheville news conference yesterday, Gov. Roy Cooper said his administration is coordinating with the Federal Emergency Management Administration to assist damaged communities.
Tuttell urged people to look beyond the Helene headlines and make plans to visit North Carolina’s coast and Piedmont. “Two-thirds of the state is still open and needs those visitors to come and help contribute to the economy,” he said.