Asheville strategizes how to revive tourism after post-Helene decline

Most retail shops in downtown Asheville have reopened, but tourism officials say that Helene's aftermath will have an impact on tourism sales revenue for FY25.

staff shared a revised net lodging tax revenue forecast of $24.2 million, and a Buncombe County administrative fee of $1.3 million, based on data from Tourism Economics.

This revision is approximately $10.1 million lower than the original FY25 net revenue budget. Before the storm, merchants and business owners were already reporting weakened sales and counting on a robust fall season.

Lodging tax collections are forecasted to decline nearly 30% for FY25, reaching their lowest levels since the pandemic. Year-over-year monthly declines of 40% to 45% are anticipated, gradually easing throughout the fiscal year.

Lodging tax is a barometer for the economic well-being of the rest of the region's economy, as 70% of visitor spending takes place in a wide variety of businesses outside of lodging, such as restaurants, shop and local businesses.

We expect once potable water returns to downtown, it will really be a rebirth of our downtown restaurants," said Hayden Plemmons, director for the Asheville Downtown Association.

Tourism officials launched a winter in downtown program in an effort to gain more attraction.

"There's going to be holiday lights in downtown for the first time in a while. The winter windows competition is coming back this year. We're going to have the holiday jamboree in place of the parade. There's a lot to look forward to this holiday season," Plemmons said.

Merf Rose, manager at Instant Karma in downtown Asheville, has implemented a strategy to assess the flow of customers coming in and evaluate the positioning demand in the area.

"We just started opening up on Fridays downtown to test the waters – to see if it's worth being able to be open for Fridays, as well as Saturdays and Sundays," Rose said. "I do think it might take a minute to get people to come out, just because whatever situation that they're going through because of all of this, that really does decide whether or not people can go out."

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