DATE: Tuesday, September 2, 1997            TAG: 9709020122

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: KITTY HAWK                        LENGTH:   58 lines

STORM-FREE SUMMER KEEPS BUSINESS SUNNYAFTER 2 SEASONS OF HURRICANE SCARES, THE TOURISM ECONOMY IS BASKING IN A BOOM.

At Capt'n Franks, the hot dogs have been flying off the grill fast and furious this summer. Kathleen and Harvey Hess - like many Outer Banks business owners - are riding a good weather wave.

``We've had great weather, knock on wood,'' Kathleen Hess said. ``This summer has made up for the last two summers. Our business has been great.''

Restaurants, hotels and motels are all enjoying a lucrative season, thanks in large measure to the lack of hurricane scares. For the past two summers, evacuations prompted by the threat of storms deflated the tourist economy.

John Bone, executive director of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, says good weather has kept cash registers ringing. In fact, numbers for the first six months of the year show hotel/motel and cottage occupancy revenues up 10 percent over a year ago, to slightly less than $52 million. Gross retail sales are up 10 percent as well, to about $173 million.

There is some lag in the state-supplied figures, Bone said.

``Because the legislature's been in session, the numbers have been a little slow in coming from Raleigh,''

Weather is the key in the solid numbers, Bone said. ``Last year, we were three percent ahead of the year before,'' he said. ``And everyone was making all kinds of excuses. But the fact is the weather is going to determine how we do.''

The only downside, weather-wise, was cooler-than-normal temperatures in early June. Still, retail sales were up 10 percent.

Shirley Tauber, whose family owns Mrs. T's Deli in Nags Head, saw a slight downturn in business in the last two weeks of August. But overall, it's been an excellent summer, she said.

``Last year, at the end of the summer, things were better because of the (Babe Ruth) baseball World Series and because the kids went back to school later. Other than that, we've had a great summer,'' Tauber said.

Like everyone else, Tauber attributes business success to blue skies and bright sunshine.

The popularity of the Outer Banks is extending beyond the Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer.

``Our shoulders are getting longer,'' said Dwight Kirschner, a guest services representative at the Ramada Inn in Kill Devil Hills. ``Up until the last week, we were pretty much full for June and July and the first three weeks of August. We dropped off a little this week because the kids went back to school. But on average, we've been about 95 percent full.''

Kirschner said the Ramada expects to be full each weekend through the end of November.

Bone said motels and inns are expecting good fall business. Over the past four years, autumn, or ``shoulder season'' traffic has steadily increased. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Tourism income is up about 10 percent over this time last year,

Outer Banks officials say. That includes this ferry, headed for

Ocracoke Island.

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