Help wanted: New director for N.C. tourism

If tourism is the lifeblood of the Outer Banks, then officials are trying to make sure it keeps flowing, even in a weakened economy.

Six weeks after the resignation of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau's managing director, Carolyn McCormick, the search is on for a new leader who will be able to navigate a changing landscape.

After a decade of stratospheric growth in Dare County, the white-hot real estate market cooled, and construction slowed to a crawl.

That leaves tourism, an industry bruised by aggressive competition, Internet-deal-shopping consumers and a sour economy.

Although tourism is bringing in much more money in Dare County than before McCormick was hired 12 years ago, leaders in the community are brainstorming ways to expand the economic base.

In 2008, the total occupancy revenue - net dollars spent on overnight accommodations - in Dare County was $350 million, but the increase was a modest 3 percent over the prior year. And gross meal receipts in 2008 dropped 2 percent from 2007.

In 1997, when McCormick started at the tourism bureau, the total occupancy revenue was $152 million.

On the Outer Banks, the tourists are still coming, but their spending is flattened.

"I hope we're prepared for it," said Jill Bennett, owner of Birthday Suits swimsuit shops. "We cut, cut, cut where we could.

"I really don't think it's our tourist economy - it's the American economy."

Allen Burrus, a new tourism board member and a business owner from Hatteras, said tourists need to have more ways to experience the Outer Banks, with events such as seafood festivals, art shows, street fairs, local music and celebrations.

"We need to do things from one end of the county to the next that promotes each village," Burrus said. "What we have to have is something that draws people while they're here. We need to make sure that they get the full flavor of what we are when they're here."

Then, he said, everyone won't be at the beach, and the beach won't be the only attraction.

A search firm has been hired to review applicants in hopes of hiring a new director by August, said Renee Cahoon, chairwoman of the Dare County Tourism Board, which governs the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.

The bureau is a public authority that promotes and markets the Outer Banks. It is funded by a 1 percent occupancy tax and a 1 percent prepared meals tax collected by Dare County.

During McCormick's tenure, Cahoon said, the Outer Banks went from being a regionally known tourist destination to being nationally and internationally known.

But now, she said, it would make sense to expand the economic base with endeavors such as environmentally sound businesses to supplement tourism, she said.

"I think it's healthy to look for new niches," Cahoon said.

Lynn Minges, assistant secretary of tourism at the state Department of Commerce and Tourism, said the Outer Banks is among the highest-grossing regions for travel expenditures in the state, and she is confident it will remain so.

"It is a phenomenal destination with nothing but success in its future," she said. "I know things are going to be fine."

Alvah Ward, McCormick's predecessor on the visitors bureau, retired in 1997 after 18 months as director.

He had been critical of what he called the board's lack of vision. Under McCormick's watch, he said, things had improved.

"Overall, I think the bureau has performed well - she's done a good job," he said recently. "It's got a pretty good budget."

Ward, 79, an Outer Banks native who was involved with tourism in the 1960s, stressed the importance of tourists to the economy.

"You can't live in Dare County, particularly with the tax base what it is, without tourism," he said. "You sure don't want to eat your seed corn, I can tell you that."

Frank Folb, who has owned Frank & Fran's Fisherman's Friend in Avon for 20 years, blames the recent controversy over off-road vehicle driving for slowing business.

"I think that tourism has been hit by this beach access issue more so than the economy," he said. "There's not a whole lot of bright spots right now. It'll never be what it was."

Visitors bureau member Burrus was more optimistic. "There's no doubt in the last 15 years, we've had a heck of a ride," he said.

"Maybe this slowdown will give us the time to plan things better."

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com