July 04--From the Chicago Sun Times to the Miami Herald, to a four-page spread in AARP Magazine, people around the world are taking more of an interest in small town America.
Mount Airy offers just that to those looking for a getaway to a place with a small town feel, yet big enough to have a wide variety of activities. From Mayberry to Merlot, tourism in Mount Airy has hit a fever pitch.
Last month, visitors from 49 different states and 14 different countries passed through the Mount Airy Visitors Center. According to Jessica Icenhour, director of tourism and marketing with the Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce and the vice chair of the Tourism Partnership of Surry County, tourism numbers are up, and there are no signs the numbers will be going down anytime soon.
Mount Airy was featured in AARP Magazine in its July/August issue, which claims to be the most highly circulated magazine in the United States. The article is called, "Whistle if you love Andy Griffith."
"The magazine gives exposure to over 47 million people who read this powerful magazine that targets those 50 years and older. The value of something this significant could never be purchased with a four-page spread that includes local images," Icenhour said.
Most recently, Mount Airy has gained exposure in newspapers and publications such as the travel section in the Charlotte Observer and a Top 25 foods article promoting the pork chop sandwich at Snappy Lunch; Blue Ridge Country, The Enterprise Ledger in Alabama, the Huntsville Times, also in Alabama, the Charleston Post, the Chicago Sun Times, the Miami Herald, the Richmond Times Dispatch, the Lynchburg News, the Hickory Daily Record, the Gaston Gazette, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Greenville Sun, and TV stations including News 14 Carolina, WLOS-TV, WBTV-Charlotte.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did a piece on the Yadkin-Valley wine region and included an article that promoted Old North State Winery, Round Peak Vineyards, Shelton Vineyards, Stony Knoll Vineyards and several other vineyards in the Yadkin Valley.
The Philadelphia Inquirer recently did a piece on Mount Airy called "Mayberry Reborn."
Much of the media exposure came from a travel writer tour, which was hosted in partnership with the Cascade Highlands, Tourism Partnership of Surry County and the Mount Airy TDA.
A recent ad sponsored by the Mount Airy Tourism Development Authority and the Very Surry campaign in O magazine generated more than 5,000 requests for visitor's guides, according to Icenhour.
In recent months, Mount Airy and the Andy Griffith Museum has been promoted on NPR radio with the N.C. Division of Tourism on a show called, "Charlotte Talks," on N.C. Weekend on UNC-TV, the Winston-Salem Journal, the Bristol Herald Courier and on Web sites such as satellitetvguru.net, visitnc.com, virtualblueridge.com and yourcarolinatv.com.
Articles are expected to be featured in USA Today, The Washington Post and in AAA magazine in coming months.
Icenhour said another outlet that is generating some interest is the Mount Airy, NC Facebook page that has continued to grow with more than 4,400 friends and 2,300 fans.
"We are getting requests on a daily basis and answering questions directly from Facebook fans about booking travel arrangements," Icenhour said.
With all of the exposure, Icenhour said, local occupancy tax collections have grown, and are up over the same period from last year.
One reason Icenhour said tourism is up is that travelers en route to the beach are making more stops along the way to explore interesting towns and tourist destinations such as Mount Airy.
One of the ways the Visitor's Center is trying to promote tourism is through staying open extra hours to see how many visitors are being missed. Icenhour said the center is staying open until 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and have extended the hours until 5 p.m. on Saturdays.
"What we have found is that we are definitely missing some visitors coming into town after 5 that need assistance with lodging and booking or reserving a room. The majority of visitors that come through at this time are looking for lodging and are aware that most everything in the downtown closes at 5 p.m. They are staying overnight and visiting some of the local restaurants and wineries for dinner and entertainment and then coming downtown the next day," Icenhour said.
In terms of gaining sports revenues, Icenhour is working with several entities who are planning upcoming events. She is working with East Coast Trike, which will be bringing more than 100 trikes to town during Labor Day weekend, Sept. 2-5. She is working with police Chief Dale Watson on doing a parade with the group. She said the group will be hosted at Veteran's Park.
Icenhour has been working with Eric Childers on a bicycle swap meet to be hosted here this year. The final details have not been announced.
A local tennis tournament is expected to bring in 200 to 300 people in August. A final date has not yet been set.
Tourism spending in the United States is a $740 billion industry. It is the fastest growing industry in all 50 states and the first, second or third largest industry in each state, Icenhour said. Ninety percent of tourism businesses are considered small businesses.
Icenhour said there is somewhat of a misconception about tourism that it isn't contributing to the local economy, however, she explained that purely the opposite is true. She said tourism jobs will never be exported. She said travel and tourism directly employs more than 720 people in Surry County.
"If all the state and local taxes generated by tourists in the county were spread out per household, we would find tourism tax relief per household in each county. As a result of taxes generated by tourists spending in Surry County, each of the 32,462 households in Surry County, as determined by the 2008 census, pays $205 less in state and local taxes," Icenhour said.
Mondee Tilley
The Mount Airy News
July 4, 2010
