Guess 

 Who's 

 Coming 

 to 



Visit 



By Kathy Hart 



Like the dropping of the green flag 

 at a NASCAR race, Memorial Day 

 marks the rush of tourists to the North 

 Carolina coast. Tourism officials 

 estimate that millions of people 

 vacation along our coastal shores year- 

 round, with a majority making the trip 

 between May and September. 



Some seek the isolation of 

 Ocracoke, others the homestyle 

 beaches of Topsail, Sunset and 

 Emerald Isle. They come to swing a 

 club, cast a line, set a sail and hang ten. 

 For some it's an annual pilgrimage to 

 get away; for others, it's a chance to 

 get together with family and friends. 



They seek the beauty of the 

 lighthouses, explore coastal fortresses 

 and a battleship, educate themselves at 

 aquariums and museums, and gorge 

 themselves on plates heaped high with 

 some of the best seafood the East 

 Coast has to offer. 



They pitch tents and rent rooms. 

 Some seek the luxury of fancy condo- 

 miniums and others want a home- 

 away-from-home cottage with a porch, 

 a good view and a rocking chair. 



Whatever the reason, they come 

 and they spend money — money 

 vitally important to the coastal 

 economy. 



To find out more about our coastal 

 guests — why they come, how much 

 they spend, what they do and where 

 they come from — the Office of Park 

 and Tourism Research at N.C. State 

 University periodically surveys 

 travelers for the N.C. Division of 

 Travel and Tourism. The last survey 

 was performed in 1989. 



Here's what they learned. 



For North Carolinians, the southern 

 coast, from Carteret County south, is 

 the most popular tourist destination in 

 the state. However, out-of-staters 

 prefer the northern coast. 



These preferences are a reflection 

 of the road system and the desire of 

 travelers to spend time on the sand 

 rather than in the car, says Dick 

 Trammell, director of the state's 



Division of Travel and Tourism. 



Two four-lane highways, Interstate 

 40 and U.S. 70, make travel to the 

 state's central and southern beaches a 

 faster, easier trip for North Carolinians, 

 especially from cities such as Raleigh, 

 Durham, Greensboro, Asheboro and 

 Winston-Salem. From Raleigh, you 

 can be on Wrightsville Beach in two- 

 and-one-half hours and on Atlantic 

 Beach in three. 



But the Outer Banks aren't as 

 accessible for Tar Heel vacationers. 

 The trip from Raleigh to Nags Head 

 takes four hours on a good day when 

 traffic isn't congesting the two-lane 

 highway that links our northern shores 

 to mainland North Carolina. 



However, the trip from Virginia to 

 the Outer Banks is faster and along 

 better roadways. So it's no wonder 

 that Virginians flock to our northeast 

 corner to sample the beauty of our 

 beaches and to avoid the overdevelop- 

 ment plaguing their own shores, 

 Trammell says. Visitors from other 

 northern states come too, particularly 

 those along the Atlantic Seaboard. 



By the same token, North Carolin- 

 ians in the mountains and southern 



Like the dropping 

 of the green flag at a 



NASCAR race, 

 Memorial Day marks the 

 rush of tourists to the 

 North Carolina coast. 



foothills tend to head to South 

 Carolina beaches for vacation. 



Once they have sunk their toes in 

 the sand, Tar Heel vacationers tend to 

 stay longer than out-of-staters. 

 Resident travelers stay an average of 

 6.5 nights at the coast; non-residents, 

 4.67 nights on northern shores and 

 4.91 nights at southern beaches. 



Hotels, motels and resorts were 



12 JULY/AUGUST 1992 



