There Are Mainland Tourist Attractions, But Let’s Keep Our Perspective

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I don’t argue that there are no mainland tourist attractions, rather that the County needs to take a business-like approach to understanding them and their relative impact on the economy, before making further Occupancy Tax investments. As with businesses, governments need to consider a range of investment alternatives and choose those with the best payoff.

  1. The County and the Tourism Department need to separately keep track of and report attendance by County residents and non-County residents, i.e. tourists or business travelers. Is the venue mostly used by tourists or mostly used by County residents?

  2. The County needs to have professional estimates of how long these mainland tourists stay in the County, how much they spend on admission fees, lodging, restaurants in the County and how much tax revenues they generate while in the County.

  3. For County managed events, such as CCRC Horse Shows and Ball Tournaments, the County needs to keep track of both revenues and costs, to help us understand the net impact of sponsored events.

  4. What is the recorded increase in the collections of mainland Occupancy Tax as a result of these events?

Example: I attended a Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) meeting last Spring and heard of the great response Parks and Recreation was getting for the Maple Ball Fields. A website article touted 27 weekend events; but it was unclear whether they meant 27 multi-day ball tournaments (which would be every weekend for more than half the year) or 27 days of tournaments. At the TAB meeting the Parts and Rec Director was excited about the fact that at one multi-day tournament the snack concession collected about $12,000. But none of the TAB members asked about the costs for food and labor in the concession stand, the costs to stage the events, admission fees, or whether Sales Tax was even collected given the government sponsorship. Note: the County would realize sales tax revenues of 2%, or about $240 from the reported concession sales, assuming that they collected and filed the tax.

If the County wants to be in the Tourism business they need to operate like a business. Better yet, let the private sector make the business decisions on investments of their capital and how to best assess profit potential.

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Ed Cornet

Ed Cornet, PhD, is a long time Currituck resident in Corolla. He has over six years of service as a member of the County's Economic Development Advisory Board and the Land Use Plan Steering Group. His business career was in high-tech industries and as a Partner of Booz Allen Hamilton. He has served on several corporate Boards. After retiring from business Ed was a Professor in the Kenan-Flagler Business School of UNC Chapel Hill where he established the STAR Program guiding MBA students to help NC businesses.