THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060428
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
With temperatures and tourism cooling on the Outer Banks, business owners said Tuesday that Labor Day revenues were about even with last year's take on the last big weekend of the year.
Overall seasonal earnings, however, did not seem to meet most people's expectations.
``Labor Day didn't turn out to be as good a weekend as anyone had hoped for,'' said Angie Daniels, a spokeswoman for the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce. ``As of 5 p.m. Friday, we still had 20 percent of the hotels and motels with vacancies. That's really unusual. Generally, we're booked full by the Wednesday or Thursday before.
``We were off to a much better start than what the summer ended up with,'' Daniels said. ``I haven't heard anybody saying this was a record-breaking season. Some people are disappointed. Our expectations for this year were really high.''
On Hatteras Island, Midgett Realty owner Tim Midgett agreed. Most of his company's 350 cottages were full this past weekend, he said. But the latter part of the summer, especially, was slower than predicted. And fall travel usually depends heavily on the weather.
``We had a strong Labor Day. But nothing I would call a bumper crop,'' Midgett said. ``It was so windy down here, it kept some weekend travelers away. And we're still feeling the repercussions of Hurricane Felix - which never even came. It's hard to bounce back from something like that, especially so late in the season.''
From Corolla to Ocracoke, the story was the same for realty agents, restaurateurs and retailers: After Outer Banks officials evacuated the barrier islands in the face of Felix, they said, tourists did not return.
Some Virginia and North Carolina residents removed their boats and travel trailers as the hurricane hurried toward the coast. Most haven't been back since. An earlier start for most public schools - and the continued presence of storms off the Atlantic seaboard - also have kept visitors at bay since mid-August.
I think people are just scared to death of all these storms. They're getting so much national attention, everyone is aware of them,'' ReMax Realty Property Manager Linda Hess said from her Kill Devil Hills office. ``Our fall bookings aren't as strong as I'd hoped. People are saying they'll reserve cottages at the last minute, once they see what the weather's doing. We were up 25 percent this spring in reservations. Throughout the summer, though, it was only about 15 percent.''
Sun Realty Rental Manager Betsy Taylor said her business increased about 10 percent overall this summer in 1,000 properties between Corolla and Hatteras Island. The company added 60 new cottages to its rental brochure this year in the Nags Head area alone. On Currituck County's beaches, she said, the number of new rental units was even greater.
``We were pretty full most of the summer. Just as hectic as last year,'' Taylor said. ``June was a little off. But other than that, we were up this season. We won't really slow down much here until the end of September.''
Occupancy tax revenues increased 13.5 percent between June 1994 and June 1995. Meals tax income rose 22.8 percent during the same period, Dare County Tourist Bureau Director Gene O'Bleness said. In July, however, occupancy tax revenues only grew by 8.5 percent, and meals tax income increased by slightly more than 1 percent over the same period in 1994. August figures won't be available until the end of this month.
``We had a very strong spring and summer season, and it looks like we'll have a good fall, too,'' O'Bleness said. ``We did have some vacancies this past weekend. Felix had a detrimental effect that has lingered some. And there is also increased competition among businesses.
``New rental cottages are being built every week,'' he said. ``And we added 1,400 new restaurant seats in Dare County this year. The people are still coming. But the pie is just getting sliced thinner and thinner.''
With two new lanes on the Wright Memorial Bridge over the Currituck Sound, traffic back-ups that have stretched for miles on both sides of the span in years past did not occur at all this season. And although more than 100,000 visitors continued to stream across the sound each weekend, people seldom had to wait to enter or leave the barrier islands.
That may have led some folks to think the area wasn't as crowded as usual this summer, business owners said. Others agreed that increased competition could also have cut into their profit margins.
``The number of new restaurants certainly has had an impact on the existing ones,'' said Mike Kelly, who has owned two Outer Banks eateries for years and opened two new restaurants this summer. ``We also lost about seven days of business after the hurricane scare. You can't make those numbers up, once they're gone. All you can do is pretty much trim your losses.''
Penguin Isle restaurant in Nags Head had the busiest summer season in its history, Kelly said. Kelly's Outer Banks Tavern, however, suffered a slight decrease in income. Over Labor Day weekend, Kelly said, patronage at both places dropped about 10 percent - as many as 60 diners per restaurant - on Friday and Saturday nights.
``Overall, for both restaurants,'' said Kelly, ``I guess our total summer receipts were up about 5 to 7 percent. That's not as good as in past seasons, certainly. But it's still continuing to grow.''
At Soundings Factory Outlet Mall, a total of 8,251 vehicles entered the Nags Head parking lot between Friday and Monday of the past weekend, manager Nell Grant said. During Labor Day Weekend 1994, counters logged 12,949 cars. Visitation decreased by about 49 percent over last summer's end of season.
``I just think this summer was down in terms of traffic,'' Grant said, adding that weather has a large influence over whether people shop at her mall. ``The sales volume at our 25 stores stayed about even, though. When people did come, they came to shop and spend. The revenues stayed pretty steady all season.''
KEYWORDS: TOURISM ECONOMY by CNB