THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 15, 1996 TAG: 9604130237
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: TALK OF THE TOWN
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Three golf courses opened last year in Williamsburg. Later this year, the Legends Group of Myrtle Beach will open Legends at Royal New Kent and Legends at Stonehouse.
With 11 golf courses in place, 17 Williamsburg-area hotels with 3,400 total rooms are promoting golf tours in a new 36-page booklet. Vacationers can call a hotel and schedule tee times and room reservations.
``We're delighted that it's come together the way it has because we think it has a lot of potential,'' said David Schulte, executive director of the Williamsburg Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The golf initiative is aimed in part at drawing golfing vacationers away from Myrtle Beach.
The South Carolina seaside resort area counted 49,390 passengers at Myrtle Beach International Airport in March, up 48.5 percent from a year earlier.
``It has to slow down sometime, but we haven't seen any signs of it yet,'' said Horry County airports director Pete Winters. ``Everybody's adding flights and filling airplanes. We're already 100,000 passengers ahead of last year, and our slowest months are behind us.''
Valujet: Discount carrier ValuJet, which began service to Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport last year, will slow its rapid growth.
The airline reported five minor incidents in January and February among its 47 aircraft. These included three planes going off runways, one broken landing gear and one plane stalling and hitting the runway. There were no injuries.
Federal regulators pushed for slower growth. The airline has added 18 planes a year since opening in '93. It'll cut purchases down to 13 or 14 planes a year.
``This decision has been made, in part, in response to increased (Federal Aviation Administration) scrutiny and requirements relating to the company that resulted from recent incidents involving the company's aircraft,'' the airline said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Corn meal: U.S. Corn prices have surpassed $4 a bushel, compared to $2.50 a year ago. That means poultry, cattle and hog farmers will pay more for corn feed.
If cash-strapped cattle, hog and poultry farms get rid of the animals, the stampede to the slaughter houses could send meat prices down this summer before rising next year, experts say. by CNB