North Carolina, Triangle outpace nation in tourism and travel spending

Tourists may not be spending as much in the rest of the nation. But that’s not the case in North Carolina, state tourism officials say.

According to figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, tourism and travel spending across the United States “decelerated” during the first quarter of 2015, growing at an annual rate of just 2 percent. That’s down from the 4.9 percent increase the nation saw in the final quarter of 2014.

BEA attributed the decline to reduced spending on food services and drinking places and “all other transportation-related commodities.”

Meanwhile, North Carolina has seen no such slowdown. While figures that would allow an exact apples-to-apples comparison were not available, state tourism officials were able to provide data that showed the state is outperforming the national average in a number of ways.

Scott Peacock, a spokesman for Visit N.C., says this year, demand for hotel rooms in North Carolina was up 4.9 percent as of April, compared to the 3.8 percent increase the rest of the nation saw over the same period.

The North Central Region, which covers the Triangle area, was slightly ahead of the state average at 5 percent. That’s according to data collected by Smith Travel Research.

In Wake County, collections on hotel occupancy taxes and food and beverage taxes hit record highs for each month of the first quarter of 2015. In March, occupancy tax collections were up 10.1 percent year-over-year, bringing in $1.95 million in revenue. Food and beverage tax collections topped $2.1 million, marking a 15 percent increase.

Dennis Edwards, president and CEO of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, attributed the strong performance to a strong economy, which has driven an increase in corporate travel, attendance at sporting events and leisure tourism.