“You have to put gas in the tank to be able to go somewhere,” Vic Isley, president of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority (TDA), said of the decision to invite tourists back into the Asheville area about a month after Hurricane Helene devastated the region.
With tourism income declining significantly, Isley said the TDA needs to invite tourists back now to avoid a “vicious cycle” of economic deficit.
On Wednesday, the TDA held its first meeting since flooding, extreme wind and landslides from Helene ravaged hundreds of roads, power lines, trees, internet service and nearly all of Asheville’s water infrastructure.
While the city is largely reconnected to power and internet, key roads, including parts of US-70, Tunnel Road and a 20-mile section of Interstate 40, remain closed. Water has been reconnected to 99% of residents – but the city remains in a water crisis, without consumable tap water and no timeline of when it will return.
Isley and TDA board members supported the decision to resume tourism advertisements through a “Reopening Asheville” campaign, but failed to provide logistical information about how visitors would be guided through an active disaster zone.
Board members did not address how tourism would be received by the city’s residents who are still seeking showers, drinking water, mental health services, laundry and hot meals at more than 10 aid sites stationed throughout the county.
The decision to invite visitors back to the region came a month after the organization briefly paused all advertisements in the wake of Helene.
In lieu of its typical ads, the TDA launched a “Love Asheville From Afar” campaign to encourage tourists to donate to various Asheville relief campaigns and shop online from local businesses as the region got back on its feet. The organization also organized a benefit concert in Charlotte that raised $24 million in relief for Helene victims.
These relief campaigns are still active, Dodie Stephens, the TDA’s VP of Marketing, said at the meeting. In late November, there will be another benefit concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden that benefits relief efforts, she said.
The relief campaigns will be mixed together with advertisements that “amplify” Asheville’s reopening, Stephens said. The TDA is partnering with Biltmore Estate and iHeart Radio to get this messaging out, she added.
Isley emphasized that tourism needed to return to the area as quickly as possible to avoid an economic disaster.
“We need to be a catalyst in terms of making sure that we do not have an economic disaster following a natural disaster,” she said. “We need to do that respectfully and with compassion for our community and also understanding that we need businesses and merchants to be able to open safely when they can, where they can, so that we continue to have jobs for our residents.”
Job loss from the storm is an issue for the county, with state and federal authorities supplementing standard unemployment with DUA, or disaster unemployment assistance, for those who are unemployed or underemployed because of the federally declared disaster.
Nathan Ramsey, director of the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board, said there have been 24,251 disaster-related unemployment claims statewide since Helene hit. He estimated that half of those claims are from Buncombe County, with 70% in the Asheville metro area.
The latest TDA budget report projects a $10.1 million budget shortfall. Lodging tax collections are forecasted to decline 29% for FY25, to the lowest level since the pandemic in FY20.
Earlier this week, TDA representatives declined to answer whether the organization had concerns about Asheville’s ability to provide limited resources like clean water and lodging to outside visitors at a time where many residents are struggling to get basic needs met.
At the meeting, Isley promised that the TDA’s marketing dollars would be used “very smartly and respectfully,” but did not specify or reply to BPR’s request on how tourists would be accommodated with water resources.
Explore Asheville, an organization run by the TDA, published a travel advisory sheet on its website. The website does share that most of Asheville is under a boil water notice, but does not provide specific advice on how visitors might navigate that situation when it comes to showers, dishes, laundry and other sanitation needs.
“Just like restaurants, many hotels and inns have secured their own potable (drinking) water with water tankers. Others are providing bottled water and added amenities to support ease and comfort across the guest experience. Some properties have chosen to remain closed,” the website said.
The website also recommends “checking status online, calling ahead and making sure roads are open is strongly advised” before making a visit to the area.
Board members speak out
Lucious Wilson is a TDA Board Member and general manager of the Wedge Brewery, which has two locations in the River Arts District and another in downtown Asheville. Both River Arts locations were flooded during the storm.
“My perspective is, let’s go, let’s push,” he said, referring to tourism advertising. “I’m personally looking for this team to provide hope, a true vital plan to provide something. We are at 3% red. And for me, I’m personally thinking, do I pay myself on the next payroll?”
“If you’ve got the money to go, I’m asking, please go,” he said.
HP Patel, a board member and president of BCA Hotels which owns the Glo Best Western, echoed this argument.
“We just lost our busiest month out of the year. We’re coming up on the holiday season. And then we’re headed into Q1, which is the deadest time of the year,” he said. “So I feel like we have to kind of, we have to hit it hard.”
Patel also said that he does not want people’s perceptions of Asheville to change after Helene. He noted that there has been a lot of media coverage about Asheville’s storm damage, which has altered people’s perspective of the city.
“We don’t want that perception out there. So I think we have to hit that, target it very soon and get people back here and visiting.”
TDA representatives did not respond to BPR’s questions before publication.
The next TDA Board meeting is Thursday, November 21, 2024, at 9:00 a.m.
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