Tourism in NC, county takes hit

SAMPSON COUNTY — Domestic and international visitors to and within Sampson spent $41.9 million in 2020, a decrease of 24.5% from 2019. The data comes from an annual study commissioned by Visit North Carolina, a unit of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.

“Despite this year’s decrease in visitor spending due to the impacts of COVID-19, Sampson County has seen an increase every year since 2016,” Sheila Barefoot, executive director of the Sampson County Convention and Visitors Bureau, stated in a press release. “We are very excited that we are seeing lodging and spending on the rise again and look forward to our percentage increasing for the upcoming year.”

The study was prepared for Visit North Carolina by Tourism Economics in collaboration with the U.S. Travel Association.

Tourism impact highlights for 2020

• The travel and tourism industry directly employees more than 333 in Sampson County.

• Total payroll generated by the tourism industry in Sampson County was $11.7 million.

• State tax revenue generated in Sampson County totaled $2.1 million through state sales and excise taxes, and taxes on personal and corporate income. About $1.9 million in local taxes were generated from sales and property tax revenue from travel-generated and travel-supported businesses, for an average savings of $62.05 per resident.

Statewide, visitor spending was down 32% to $19.96 billion compared to $29.22 billion spent in 2019, tourism employment fell 26 percent to 178,685 and the losses were most acutely felt in urban areas.

“We are extremely gratified that tourism thrived in 20 counties in the face of pandemic shutdowns and other impediments to travel,” said Visit NC Director Wit Tuttell. “And despite the bad news for North Carolina as a whole, our ranking at No. 5 among states for visitation is a position of strength for rebuilding our tourism economy. Given the state’s resilience and vast appeal of its natural beauty, our creative cities and our authentic experiences at every turn, we’re confident that we’ll regain what has been lost and exceed the spending records of the recent past.”

Statewide highlights

• Fourteen of the state’s 100 counties saw gains in visitor spending, including Warren, Greene, Yancey, Clay, Stokes, Polk, Northampton, Pender, Ashe, Alleghany, Rutherford, Jones, Currituck and Tyrrell.

• Visitors to North Carolina generated nearly $3 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2020. The total represents a 26.6% decrease from 2019.

• State tax receipts as a result of domestic visitor spending decreased 26.4% to more than $891.6 million in 2020.

• Local tax receipts from domestic visitor spending dropped 21 percent to $906.4 million.

• Twenty counties had increases in employment related to visitor spending in 2020; Warren, Greene, Clay, Stokes, Ashe, Yancey, Alleghany, Pender, Macon, Northampton, Jones, Polk, Rutherford, Montgomery, Tyrrell, Dare, Carteret, Madison, Currituck and Swain.

• Direct tourism payroll decreased 24.5% to $6.4 billion.

• Visitors spend more than $54 million per day in North Carolina. That spending adds $4.9 million per day to state and local tax revenues (about $2.4 million in state taxes and $2.5 million in local taxes).

• Each North Carolina resident saves on average $170 in state and local taxes as a direct result of visitor spending in the state.

• North Carolina hosted 37 million visitors in 2020.

The statistics come from the “Economic Impact of Travel on North Carolina Counties 2020,” which can be accessed at partners.visitnc.com/economic-impact-studies.

For more information contact Barefoot at Sampson County Tourism by email at [email protected]