Selling 

 the 

 Seaside 

 Year- 

 Round 



By Carta B. Burgess 



Aycock Brown knew every step 

 of the tourism waltz. He knew the 

 value of investing in tourism and 

 reportedly loaned a dollar or two to 

 visiting strangers. He claimed it 

 always came back to him tenfold. 



The Outer Banks' first true 

 publicist, Brown knew the meaning 

 of free ad copy. He sold the coast to 

 big-city magazine and newspaper 

 editors through photographs of choice 

 channel bass, shipwrecks, banker 

 ponies and scantily-clad women. 



His suggestion of an impending 

 hurricane lured a gaggle of reporters 

 to the pinnacle of Jockey's Ridge. 

 The storm never struck, but Brown's 

 public relations machine did. The 

 press left knowing that the Outer 

 Banks were on the map. 



If he were still alive, Brown 

 would most likely be impressed with 

 what he spawned. 



Today, Dare County tourism 

 officials tempt journalists to the 

 seaside without the promise of a 

 natural disaster. Twice a year, writers 

 are treated to an all-expenses-paid 

 romp in the sand and surf and a 

 healthy dose of Southern hospitality. 



It's a formula that never fails, says 

 Gene O'Bleness, director of the Dare 

 County Tourist Bureau. The metro- 

 politan newspaper reporters pay 

 homage to the barrier islands in 

 Sunday travel sections across the 

 country. 



"The phones go off the hook on 

 Monday," says O'Bleness. 



Travel and tourism is the main 

 contributor to Dare County's $500 

 million economy. With the help of 

 automated bridge counters, the 

 county has estimated its annual 

 number of visitors at 6.5 million. It 

 ranks fourth among North Carolina's 

 100 counties in dollars spent on travel 

 and tourism. 



With 22,000 restaurant seats, 

 5,200 hotel and motel rooms, 14,000 

 cottages for rent and an estimated 

 carrying capacity of 150,000, the 



county stands to gain a lot from the 

 advertising dollars it invests. Thanks to 

 revenues generated by a 1 percent levy 

 in the county's occupancy tax and a 

 new 1 percent prepared meals tax, the 



With the stakes so high, 

 travel and tourism 

 has become more 

 sophisticated. 



Tourist communities are 

 spending big dollars 



to determine trends and 



learning how to capitalize 

 on their knowledge. 



bureau will have about $1.5 million to 

 spend this year. 



That's a far cry from the $10,000 

 that fueled the bureau's operation in 

 1952, the year it incorporated. 



"Throughout those early years, 

 the tourist bureau lived from hand to 

 mouth and did not have a prominent 

 funding source," O'Bleness says. 

 "Our basic budget up until last year 

 was about $200,000 — $170,000 of 

 which came through ABC sources." 



With the stakes so high, travel and 

 tourism has become more sophisti- 

 cated. Tourist communities are 

 spending big dollars to determine 

 trends and learning how to capitalize 

 on their knowledge. 



"For every media dollar invested 

 in advertising, we get $5.28 in tax 

 revenue from non-residents who visit 

 the state," says Larry Gustke, associ- 

 ate professor of parks, recreation and 

 tourism management at N.C. State 

 University. 



Dare and other coastal tourism 

 meccas such as Carteret and New 

 Hanover counties have abandoned the 

 shotgun approach to advertising that 

 scatters information to a general 



8 JULY/AUGUST 1992 



