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From Staff Reports
ASHEVILLE — New hotel occupancy numbers are out “and they continue to show the tourism slide that Asheville locals already sense nearly nine months after Helene,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on June 25.
“Explore Asheville, the area's tourism organization, reported that May hotel occupancy was down 7 percent compared to last May,” News 13 added. “Hotel revenues are down 19 percent compared to revenues last May, and room rate data shows a decrease of 13 percent.
“Ashley Greenstein, spokesperson for Explore Asheville, said (at a Buncombe County Tourism Developmnt Authority meeting on June 25) that vacation rental occupancy was down 11 percent compared to last May, and demand was down 26 percent. The inventory has also dropped by 16 percent, according to Greenstein.”
Even worse. “Andrew Lehman, general manager of the Grand Bohemian and newly appointed chairman of the Tourism Development Board, said that of his 80 available rooms, only about 50 percent are occupied. In June, Lehman said, typically, he has around 75 percent occupancy,” the TV station stated
“We’re seeing families come in for camps, but not as many as we used to," Lehman said. "We’re seeing people come for hikes and waterfalls, but we’re not seeing that quite as much.”
While the amenities, such as hiking, are still here, as with so many in the local tourism industry, he is trying hard “to help spread the word that visitors can and should visit Asheville,” News 13 stated.
The new data shows that in May 2025, Buncombe County had 198,526 hotel rooms booked, while In May 2019, 190,459 rooms were booked, but “a lot of those occupied hotel rooms (in 2025) are filled with people here as part of recovery,” Lehman said. “That’s a different type of traveler.”
News 13 added, “Lehman said these visitors are not doing what tourists do – sightseeing and spending on a trip.”
“Restaurants and bars, they’re suffering right now. They’re having difficulty maintaining staff. You see people working in hospitality leaving for other markets because the work is down,” Lehman said, according to News 13.
At its June 25 meeting, the Tourism Development Board also “heard news about Blue Ridge Parkway progress.
A total of 48.7 miles are expected to re-open by this fall with access to Craggy Gardens, Mount Mitchell State Park and the Pisgah Inn,” the TV station reported. “Rachel Stasny with the Blue Ridge Parkway explained how crews are fixing eroded stretches of road.
”“It’s a very dramatic repair,” Stasny told the TDA board, adding, “We dig out basically to bedrock, which can be hundreds of feet down. Then we rebuild the road in what we call a sort of layer cake. It’s a gravel, mesh netting.”
News 13 added, “The work continues in rebuilding the road from that base.”
In News 13’s “Comment Bubble” that followed its story were the following assertions:
• shadowsmom — “Instead of trying to build more and also increase tourism, powers that be need to catch up on infrastructure. Nobody wants to spend their vacation sitting in standstill traffic. It’s a nightmare.”
• terraformis — “Asheville will never have a adequate infrastructure design because the original framework that the city was built upon was poorly thoughtout... in fact it wasn’t thoughout at all, it was built upon old logging roads from the 1800s. If you know anything about logging roads then you know that there is zero consideration given to long-term planning.”
• Talkerofhome — “I am a native of 75 years. If I came to Asheville and drove down Tunnel Road I would not in a million years get a motel room on that street. It is now the slums.”
• IreneB — “Give the homeless bus tickets to LA or SF. Upgrade all those decaying motels on Tunnel Road to affordable apt complexes (affordable for lower income WORKERS). Make the unemployed get jobs in exchange for Medicaid. We used to make people prove that they applied for three jobs in exchange for Welfare. What happened? Oh yes, the liberal left at all levels of Government. Now, those people that don’t want to work, don’t have to. Generation teaches the next generation. Unfortunately, we are heading towards full-blown Socialism.vIf you are voting for the left, this is exactly what you want?”
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