Visitors come to the Hickory Metro for dozens of reasons, from business to leisure to sports. Several major sporting events will bring visitors to the area in May, including the Lady Bass Anglers Association (LBAA) national bass fishing tournament, a major soccer tournament with 40+ teams, and a basketball tournament with 80+ teams, of course, professional racing and baseball are these Month in full swing.

“Every local tourism worker is valuable and tourism is an important economic engine in our community,” added Hildebrand. “The travel and tourism industry is growing and employees may think it’s just a job at first, but that job can easily turn into a successful and fun career in the hospitality industry.”

Here are some tourist facts:

According to the latest figures reported by North Carolina, in 2019 Catawba County had 2,510 people directly employed in the travel and tourism industries.

Visitors spent more than $ 302 million in Catawba County in 2019.

There are more than 20 hotels and bed and breakfasts in the county, not including Airbnb and vacation rentals registered.

The spa at Rock Barn brings visitors to Conover from across the nation, and some customers claim it is the best spa experience in the nation, especially with a salt room made from pure Himalayan salt blocks that is free of toxins and pollutants.

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