Oct. 20—After a surprisingly strong tourism year during the pandemic, out-of-town visitors continued to pour into Haywood County last year, hitting a record level and generating nearly $3 million with its 4% occupancy tax funding.

Lynn Collins, director of the county's tourism development authority, has been making the rounds at local government meetings to discuss what the data show about a major economic driver in the county between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022.

This year's good news followed a record-breaking year in 2020-21, when $2.55 million was generated in occupancy revenues and where tourism overall was up 65%.

The one area that suffered a downturn last year was the Lake Junaluska zip code area where the tourism model revolved around hosting groups attending conferences at the retreat center. Collins reported Lake Junaluska Assembly refocused its marketing model and regained enough group bookings to make a great comeback.

In addition to showing revenue collected in each of five zip code districts across the county, the occupancy tax report contains a plethora of other information. For instance, data shows where in Haywood most visitors stay and the type of accommodations they flock to, whether it the cabins, cottages, villas and vacation rental category, hotels/motel, campgrounds, country clubs/resorts or bed, breakfasts inns and lodges.

The cabin, villa and vacation rental category far outpaces all other categories with hotels/motels a distant second.

Collins said a nugget gleaned from the data that was most surprising was the January 2022 set an all-time record in the number of vacation rentals rented out. January is normally a slow month, with July and October being at the busiest end.

The agency also has the ability to track visitors who are outside a 50-mile radius of the county.

"We put parameters on the program and can pull data that will tell you where people sleep, where they went, how long hey stayed and where they were before and after they were here," she said.

Collins said North Carolina has designated next year as the year of the trail. She told the Canton governing board TDA would be contributing plenty of information for that promotional opportunity, including the new trails opening at Chestnut Mountain Park.

When the park opened this spring 35 acres of the total 450-acre tract will be open to the public — namely the mountain biking skills course known as Berm Park and a hiking and biking trail that climbs 350 feet from the pedestrian bridge that serves as the gateway into the property. In September, another trail opened that will allow hikers to make a 4-mile loop on the mountain.

Canton Town Manager Nick Scheuer said eight more trails will be opening at Chestnut Mountain Park next spring.

Collins explained the next TDA advertising campaign builds on the extremely popular "Hay Now" push that was pulled when COVID first hit. The upcoming campaign will start with the phrase "Haywood you to..." and phrases such as "make some memories," "leave it all behind" or "hit the trail" will follow.

The Haywood County Tourist Development Authority was one of the first set up in North Carolina, along with Buncombe and Mecklenberg, to establish a mechanism through the state legislative process to collect a fee on overnight accommodations where funds could be raised to promote tourism. Next year, the TDAs in those counties will celebrate a 40th anniversary.

The enabling authorization caps the administrative use of the occupancy funds collected and requires the money to be used to promote tourism or support capital projects that will create tourism draws.

Under the Haywood model, the central agency retains 3% of the collections, with 1% of the funds being allocated back to the municipal zip code area to support marketing and capital projects in that jurisdiction.

According to the latest figures, the gross amount of revenue generated by tourism by zip code district included: $5.8 million in Canton, $3.3 million in Clyde; $6.1 million in Lake Junaluska, $34.6 million in Maggie Valley and $21.6 million in Waynesville.

Collins said the tourism revenues could equate to a $400 per person tax savings in Haywood.