As the new director of the Henderson County Tourism Development Authority, one of my first responsibilities is to listen to what Henderson County wants (and doesn’t) want from tourism.

To that end, I am on a listening tour to hear from our public, civic, and business leaders. But we also want to hear from every resident. The TDA will conduct a resident survey by July 1st. We hope you will take 10 minutes to go to our website and take the survey www.visithendersonvillenc.org/survey.

We listen, because tourism is a balancing act for every community. Tourism. It saves every single citizen hundreds of property and sales tax dollars each year. Visitor spending funds the amenities (e.g., restaurants) that locals want and provides jobs and business opportunities that locals need.

Visitors who fall in love with a place often become its new residents and bring fresh energy, vital energy and investment funds to a community.

Tourism. Too many tourists can drive residents out of restaurants, which allow visitors, can clog the streets that support their tax dollars, and, perhaps most importantly, tourists can change the character and identity of a community in ways that Community does not want.

The TDA’s job is to maximize the benefits of tourism while minimizing or offsetting potential disadvantages. Yes, it’s a balancing act to be sure. Always was, always will be.

Here are some numbers to show the benefits of tourism to Henderson County: For 2019 (the latest data available):

  • Visitors contributed $ 13.86 million to Henderson County’s tax base.
  • Without this $ 13.86 million visitor contribution, each and every resident of the county would have to pay an average of $ 239.98 more in local sales and property taxes each year – if the county were to make up the deficit.
  • Over 2,000 jobs were directly related to tourism, with annual salaries in excess of $ 61 million.

In the years 2020-21 we also learned that the district is particularly happy from the point of view of the tourism industry. While tourism suffered globally, nationally, and in North Carolina’s major metropolitan areas during the pandemic, causing massive job losses and revenue shortages for businesses and public services, Henderson County remained stronger than ever, with total overnight accommodation revenue expected to grow 26% alone.

We can only attribute this to our beautiful, sprawling grounds and our businesses, who have creatively figured out how to serve residents and visitors alike. Quite the inspiration.

Part of the balancing act challenge for us is that Henderson County is so inspiring, so easy to love. We just don’t want anyone to love it to death.

Instead, we want people to visit and enjoy it in such a way that what residents love in the first place is continuously improved, be it low taxes or pristine views or great places to date … or something we still even think about have not thought.

Hence the 10-minute survey. We’d like to hear your thoughts on where you live and try to bring like-minded visitors to the region as we create our tourism marketing plan.

People who appreciate and improve Henderson County for what it already is. I have loved Henderson County since a summer in 1986 when I first came here as a high school camper, and the love affair has never stopped.

I’ve been a guest here for decades, hiking in these mountains, camping in these forests, hauling sacks of apples in autumn, eating favorite food in restaurants, shopping for shoes and listening: listen to his poetry at Carl Sandburg’s, to his water rushing over his river rocks , to his talking trees in Holmes State Forest, to my children laughing on rides at the Apple Festival, to countless stories around the campfire.

So I’ve long been a listening tourist in Henderson County, with an enduring affection for everything I’ve done and heard. Now my job is to bring other tourists here to fall in love and to help do our best to keep and enlarge the wonderful.

My job is to keep listening to Henderson County, those who work and live and love them there. For many of you, this has been the case all your life. Change is the only constant in life. It may or may not be good in both life and tourism.

When change comes, we may not always be able to do the balancing act just right. And to be honest, no TDA can control everything that has to do with tourism. But for what we can do for this community, we’ll do our best.

Please take the survey and help us help you. We look forward to sharing and responding to what we hear.

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