From Staff Reports 

ASHEVILLE — Explore Asheville is forecasting an economic boom for Asheville and Buncombe County this fall “as the area continues to look for tourism to pick back up post-Helene,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on April 7. 

At a March 28 meeting with the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, Explore Asheville “just reviewed the latest travel outlook and determined that an economic boom is on the horizon,” News 13 stated.

Vic Isley, president and CEO of Explore Asheville, also stressed that travel and hospitality have always been a critical part of Buncombe County’s economy.

“For the last two years, visitors contributed $3 billion in local spending for area businesses, that’s about 20 percent of Buncombe County’s GDP,” News 13 quoted Isley as saying.

She also noted that local spending took a dip due to Tropical Storm Helene, which presented many economic challenges for residents and local businesses. 

However, Isley said, recovery efforts have shown improvements so far this year and “now, tourism cconomics analysts are forecasting a rebound this fall driven by pent-up travel demand and a potential increase in domestic travel. 

“More importantly, visitor spending is anticipated to recover, with a projected increase of 3.5 percent in 2025, followed by a stronger growth rate of 5.2 percent in 2026.” 

Waxing — a bit — poetic, Isley stated, “We’re starting to see not only the green leaves of spring, but also the green shoots of travel and hospitality coming back.”

News 13 reported that Isley also “said it’s really important for residents to go out and spend money in the community, invite friends and family to come back and invite visitors from all over the country — to come and support our creative economy.”

Further, Isley said “Good Morning America’s” live broadcast for the six-month anniversary since Helene made a huge difference. 

“Really helped put the national spotlight on Asheville, we definitely saw searches on Google increase over the course of that broadcast,” Isley said.

GMA and their sponsors ended up donating $2.7 million to multiple local organizations, Isley said.

Explore Asheville is working on a lot on marketing and public relations strategis to ensure that people know Asheville is open, Isley said at the meeting, adding that, of Explore Asheville’s “2,000 partners in travel and hospitality,” more than 75 percent have reopened.

Helene and the aftermath showed how much this community relies on one another, and Isley said it is critical that that Western North Carolina entities continues to stick together.

“Travel and hospitality’s heart has been on full display from hotels and restaurants opening their doors to house and feed first responders, as well as residents and first responders here in our community as well as throughout the country, that’s really heartening,” Isley said.

News 13 added, “Isley also said some places in the Asheville community will take longer to heal than others.

:She encouraged everyone to come out to the River Arts District, a hard-hit area in Asheville, for their upcoming event RAD Renaissance on Saturday, May 10. It’s a huge milestone in the area’s recovery from Helene.”

Among the responses in News 13’s “Comment Bubble” that appeared after its story were the following:

• terraformis — “I thought we were headed toward a recession and everything was going to get so expensive that no one could buy anything?  Yet we are simultaneously going to experience an economic BOOM locally with all our low paying jobs and high unemployment... someone please explain this too me like I am in the 3rd grade.”  

• justonevote — “I wish my liberal counterparts in Asheville nothing but the best this fall.”

• EnkaCandler — “Every time Asheville tries to advertise itself, I always get a glowing urge to feed a Democrat’s 300 percemt mark-up downtown. Then reality hits and I remember Chinese sellers on E-Bay have the same thing for way cheaper.”

• SuperSot — “Someone got paid to tell us that Asheville tourism will be better than it was when the flood came through and wiped out WNC. Thanks. Typical Asheville.” 

• TheOracle — “It’s gonna be huge, like the biggest fall tourism season ever, by far, ask around and anyone will tell ya. Demand is bottled up to visit these mountains.” 

• Antiyou — “I just hope every short-term rental is out of business. Noisy party houses that ruin the peace in neighborhoods. Go to a hotel!!!”