THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609220020
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 107 lines
Trying to offset a slow summer, the Dare County Tourist Bureau is trying to bolster the ``shoulder season'' by attracting more autumn visitors to the Outer Banks.
The push includes print and television advertising in the major target areas for the Outer Banks - Norfolk, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Richmond and Philadelphia. The television ads include images of Cape Hatteras Light on a sunny day.
The ads will emphasize that the Outer Banks is as beautiful as ever and wasn't hit by any of the hurricanes that hammered much of the rest of the state.
The threat of Hurricanes Bertha, Edouard and Fran cut sharply into the number of tourists who came in July, August and September, and - coupled with bad spring weather and the Olympic Games in Atlanta - cast a pall on the 1996 season.
``It's been dismal,'' said Rebecca Moore, director of tourism and marketing for the bureau. ``We have ads that present a very direct message, saying we were very fortunate not to have been damaged and very blessed.''
Using direct mail, the tourist bureau has also sent information packages to AAA offices throughout the mid-Atlantic, saying the undamaged Outer Banks is open for business.
Alvah H. Ward Jr., executive director of the tourist bureau, says the $43,000 campaign should provide a shot in the arm.
``I think it will take some of the edge off,'' Ward said. ``It's designed to call attention to the fact that with all the damage to the coastal area, we were not hit, and to reinforce the fact that our fall season is just super.''
Ward said that while tourism is down on the Outer Banks, the area has not been hit as hard as others in the South. The seeds for an off year, he said, were sown in the harsh winter of 1996.
``I don't think there's any question that weather hurt us,'' Ward said.
``We started with the worst winter in history in all of the states in our target area. From Virginia, north through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the weather meant that a lot of schools delayed the start of summer vacation.''
The Olympics, in Atlanta, also took their toll.
``Because of the images of congestion in the Atlanta area, there was the impression that the Southeastern United States was a place to be avoided,'' Ward said. ``There's no doubt that we got some spinoff from people who went to the Olympics and came here on their way home. But overall, the Olympics had a negative impact on the Southeast.''
A report from a Charlotte-based advertising and marketing firm reported that business at Atlanta's Six Flags Over Georgia was down 40 percent in July.
Jekyll Island, Ga., reported the worst July in 40 years.
Ward added that a number of international and national incidents involving air disasters and terrorist attacks kept tourists home this summer.
``As if these other factors weren't enough, we've had terrible back-to-back hurricane seasons, including perhaps the worst storm in the history of the state. Take all those things and stir them with a straw, and it's a wonder we had anybody here.''
Though statistics have not been compiled for August, local business tumbled in July after a strong June.
In June, occupancy was up 21 percent, and meals were up 1 percent. Tax revenues generated were up $47,702.
But in July, occupancy tax revenues were off 6 percent, meals off 5 percent. Tax revenues declined by $30,039.
The advertising campaign also hopes to clearly define what constitutes North Carolina's Outer Banks. Some national networks wrongly identified it as the Wilmington-Wrightsville Beach area.
``I think we're a victim of our own success,'' Moore said. ``There's a general impression that the Wilmington area is part of the Outer Banks. We're going to have to do a better job of defining ourselves geographically, in letting people know that the Outer Banks includes an area from Duck to Hatteras Island, and includes Duck, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Manteo and Hatteras'' and Currituck County.
That geographic confusion hurt other business in the Albemarle. Arch Edwards, who along with his wife, Jane, owns the Lords Proprietors' Inn in Edenton, said his business is off by some $50,000 this summer.
``The worst in the 15 years we've been here,'' Edwards said. ``It's not just the storms, even though Fran has had a big impact on our business. Because of poor reporting by the print and television media, people got the impression that the entire area was hit, and that's not the case.''
Edwards said he has been in contact with bed and breakfast establishments like his up and down the South Atlantic coast. The story is much the same.
``They report that since June, their business is down 25 to 30 percent. The consensus of the people I talk to - and that includes Colonial Williamsburg - is that their business was hurt by the Olympics.''
While the Dare County Tourist Bureau is gearing up for a fall push, it also lent a hand to its southern neighbors in Wrightsville-Topsail Beach. Several local motels and real estate agencies provided rooms and rental cottages at reduced rates for residents left homeless by Hurricane Fran.
``There's a fine line to walk,'' Moore said. ``We want to generate tourism dollars, but we want to help people as well. We had motels that offered rooms from $35 to $39 per night, and one real estate offered cottages to people for $400 a month.''
The tourist bureau is also gathering supplies for Fran's victims.
Meanwhile, hopes are high for a strong fall season. The Lords Proprietors' Inn begins a direct mail campaign this week to boost business.
``It's a little late to do anything for the early fall,'' Edwards said. ``Our big chore is to do well in November, December, January, February and March.''
But Ward was quick to caution that despite the shoulder-season media blitz, a consistent approach is the key.
``This kind of special effort is just a Band-Aid to stop the bleeding,'' Ward said.
``We have to have a good, consistent approach to marketing our area. We can't wait until a motel empties to start an advertising program. The good that you do, you have to do consistently over time.'' by CNB