Outer Banks in the News

Beach businesses try new visitor promotions

Written by Nancy Stancill; Published in the Charlotte Oberserver 7.1.2008

Kate Turuk and her co-workers at the Brew-Thru are stockpiling Bud Light Lime and Landshark for the thirsty tourists they hope will descend on the Outer Banks for the Fourth of July weekend.June business at the drive-in beverage store was "up and down," Turuk, an assistant manager, said Saturday. "Last year was better."

"We know we're in for a challenging summer," Carolyn McCormick, managing director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, said Monday. "So we're doing something we haven't done before."

Starting today, she said, the bureau will launch a $105,000 Internet advertising campaign to lure tourists to the barrier islands during July and August. Before now, she said, ad campaigns have always focused on the season ahead, not the current season.

But this is the summer of high gas prices and a lagging economy. And the Outer Banks is a long trip for Charlotteans and many other North Carolinians. But McCormick said there are 40 million people within a half-day's drive of the barrier islands. The biggest markets are New York, Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Outer Banks won't lack tourists this summer, she said, but they'll be spending less money on such things as meals out, offshore fishing and beach gear.

Everyone who loves beaches has their favorite beach. For me, it's always been the beaches on the Banks - Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk and Southern Shores in particular. Some of my earliest memories are of climbing the sand dunes, hunting for storm-tossed shells and hearing tales of the Wright Brothers. Even when we lived in Texas, we got back to the Banks most years.

Will Shields, a manager at Seaside Vacations, sees similar devotion among legions of return visitors. Seaside Vacations rents out 270 properties for owners from Corova to Hatteras. By Saturday, he said, all but seven were rented for the Fourth of July week.

But it was a slow June, he said, so his company began offering a $100 gift card with a full week's rental - to pay for gas or other expenses while visiting on the Banks. The offer, publicized on the company's Internet site, stirred interest and more bookings.

Shields said one effect he's seeing of the sluggish economy is more people asking to rent for partial weeks, rather than a full week. Often, he said, his property owners are willing to negotiate that.

He predicted that business will pick up in August, when parents realize that their children are going back to school shortly.

Leslie Nelson, assistant manager of the Nags Head location of Kitty Hawk Sports, said business is down about 5 percent from last summer. The store, which offers sports equipment and gear, is across the street from the famed Jockey's Ridge dunes. On Saturday, with temperatures in the high 90s, there were few climbers and kite-fliers on the dunes.

And there were few people in the store as well. Nelson said she understands the plight of tourists.

"They'll still spend money to come to the beach, but they'll go to the grocery store instead of spending their money in here," she said.

Charles Hennigan, owner of Goombay's Grille and Raw Bar along the beach road, said the holiday week was going well. But he added that business was off about 5 percent in June. He noticed local business was down as well as tourist traffic.

Since vacation home-building is down, he said, he doesn't get as many workers coming in for a 5 o'clock drink.

Shields was looking on the bright side as the holiday weekend approaches.

"There are 300,000 people here having fun," he said. "Life goes on at the Outer Banks."