County Spending by
Domestic Visitors
Increases according to State Records
"HIGH
POINT, N.C., Aug. 12, 2015 –
High Point was a big winner in
the state’s announcement of economic development generated by
tourism last year. Groups across the
city agreed that they experienced similar increases but added that a strong
core city would even more dramatically impact those numbers.
According to Visit North
Carolina, domestic visitors to
and within Guilford County spent more than $1.263 billion in 2014, a 4.71%
increase from 2013. This
generated employment for 12,760 people totaling $306,870,000 in payroll,
$63,240,000 in state tax receipts and $28,260,000 in county tax receipts.
“In
a local survey of High Point organizations engaged in tourism, verified there
were increases across the board, and not all of the credit goes to the few
weeks of Furniture Market” says Tim Mabe, CEO of the High Point Convention
& Visitors Bureau. “Much of the
increase is due to the year-round visitors coming to High Point as a
destination such as High Point University, the bi-annual ITMA fabric show
"Showtime", and an increasing number of furniture showrooms open to
the public.
“However,
many of those visitors, are staying overnight and eating in restaurants in
Greensboro due to a lack of infrastructure in the core city that appeals to
them. These events, like Furniture Market are all, of course, a great benefit
to our entire region and state,” he says.
“Think of the possibilities of how much more of a direct benefit these
events could be to High Point if we could capture the visitor’s entire
experience. Further, if we developed our core city area with restaurants,
retail shops, entertainment and meeting facilities, High Point would be poised
to become established as a great destination for all kinds of activities year-round
that attract tourists, amateur and youth sporting attractions and meeting
groups. To take full economic benefit of
our location, we need the infrastructure in the core city to capture more than
our fair share of the economic benefit associated with visitors and tourists.”
Last
year, the HPCVB worked with 78 groups totaling 147,646 people who came to High
Point for meetings and other events, thereby generating a tourism impact of
$40.9 million. An estimated 30,000
consumers shopping for home furnishings come to the Home Furnishings Capital of
the World™ every year. In addition, the
High Point Market attracts roughly 75,000 marketgoers each April and October.
High Point University attracts more than 80,000 visitors annually.
“Hotels
like the Marriott Courtyard regularly tell us they have a waiting list. Occupancy at the Radisson High Point grew
modestly in the last year but could be so much more if we populated the area in
the core city with more amenities and things to do, for both our visitors as
well as for our citizens, “ he says. “We have the backbone for what it takes to
capture our fair share of the tourism dollars in the Piedmont Triad area. Now we just need to make this revitalization
our top priority for economic development.”
Tourism impact highlights for 2014:
•
The travel and
tourism industry directly employees more than 12,760 people in Guilford
County.
•
The travel and
tourism industry directly employs more than 12.76 million people in Guilford
County.
•
Total payroll
generated by the tourism industry in Guilford County was $306,870,000.
•
State tax revenue
generated in Guilford County totaled $63,240,000 through state sales and
excise taxes, and taxes on personal and corporate income. Approximately
$28,260,000 in county taxes were generated from sales and property tax revenue
from travel-generated and travel-supported businesses.
Gov. Pat
McCrory announced in May that visitors to North Carolina spent a record $21.3
billion in 2014, an increase of 5.5 percent from 2013. These statistics are
from the “2014 Economic Impact of Travel on North Carolina Counties.” The study was prepared for Visit North Carolina
by the U.S. Travel Association.
“All
eight regions of the state had spending growth of 4 percent or more and 90
percent of the state’s counties saw direct tourism
employment growth from 2013 to 2014,” says Wit Tuttell, executive director of
Visit North Carolina. “As the sixth most visited state in the country, tourism
continues to be major driver of economic development across North Carolina.”
Statewide highlights include:
• State tax receipts as a result of visitor spending neared the $1.1
billion mark in 2014. The figure represents 4 percent in growth over 2013’s
$1.0 billion.
• Visitors spend more than $58 million per day in North Carolina. That
spending adds more than $4.6 million per day to state and local tax revenues
(about $2.9 million in state taxes and $1.7 million in local taxes).
•
The travel and tourism industry directly
employees more than 200,000 North Carolinians.
# # #
About
the High Point Convention & Visitors Bureau:
The High Point Convention &
Visitors Bureau (HPCVB) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote
and encourage economic development in High Point through travel and tourism.
The CVB works closely with meeting planners to bring events to High Point and
to enhance their experience here, providing white glove assistance with event
planning tasks including registration, transportation, and coordination among
various venues. These services ensure that every group event will be successful
down to the last detail because we want each visitor to make yourself at home.
Established by state legislation in 1984, the HPCVB is an independent 501(c) 6
nonprofit organization funded by a self-imposed three percent room occupancy
tax on local hotels. No taxpayer funds - city, county or state-are used to fund
the HPCVB. The new Visitors Information and Welcome Center is located at 1634
N. Main St., High Point, N.C. For more information, visit www.highpoint.org."
- A Press Release
