When we operated the Weldon Place Inn Bed & Breakfast Inn in Downtown Weldon, we had four guest rooms. Often we had a full house. Our marketing efforts were paying off and we were attracting guests from throughout the region and up and down the east coast. Often we had guests from Richmond and Raleigh coming to Weldon for a getaway and we would have guests that were traveling through from points North on their way to somewhere South.
The financial benefit to us, to have all four rooms rented out for two nights every weekend was good. While it was good for us, it was also good for the local economy.
Those four guest rooms represented 8 people, while we served them breakfast as a part of their stay, they went out to lunch and dinner. That represented at least 12 meals purchased from local restaurants. These guests often did other shopping or sightseeing in the area too. They most likely filled up with gas for their return trip.
It’s easy to say that the 8 people a day, two days a week that visiting our bed and breakfast inn spent about $300 during their stay. With all four guest rooms rented, the economic impact we produced in the local economy was about $1200 a weekend and about $5000 a month.
In the past, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has reported that when a community attracts 100 tourists a day, it results in
7 additional retail outlets
111 new industry-related jobs
$1.1 million in retail sales,
$78,000 in tax receipts,
creating 140 new households, and
$777,000 increase in personal income,
I often arrive at the traffic light and have to wait for the traffic to exit off of Interstate 95. Sometimes, I’ll count the cars coming off the interstate and do some math.
Each car pulling off the highway is doing so for a reason. Some may be getting off just for gas and a bathroom break. Many will buy a meal. Some are ready to check into a hotel for the night.
Depending on their purpose for pulling off the interstate, each car represents some money spent in the local economy. Whether it’s $50 for a tank of gas or $75 to $100 for gas and a meal or $200 with a hotel stay. This is money spent supporting the businesses in our local economy.
Recently, Visit North Carolina (visitNC.com), the state agency responsible for promoting tourism, announced that domestic visitors to and within Halifax County spent $96.95 million in 2017. That represents an increase of 5.56 percent from 2016, according to Lori Medlin, President, and CEO of the Halifax County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Visit NC Executive Director Wit Tuttell said, “The continued growth in visitor spending is great for communities across our entire state. North Carolina’s continued position as the sixth most-visited state in the nation with more than 46 million visitors in 2017 reinforces its status as a premier tourism destination.”
Downtown Weldon can get a piece of this pie.
Using the stats for the US Chamber of Commerce, if we were successful in attracting 15% of those numbers, we would be attracting 15 tourists or 7 couples a day to Downtown Weldon. For every 15 tourists we attract, it will result in supporting 1 new business in Weldon creating 16 new tourism-related jobs and $165,000 in retail sales annually. That breaks down to $452 spent per day by those 15 tourists or $30 per tourist.
That’s do-able!
Weldon just needs to work on developing its tourism attractions and marketing what we have to draw the people and the dollars they will spend in Weldon’s economy.
And let me go back to the statement of attracting 15 tourists a day to Downtown Weldon will result in supporting 1 new business and $165,000 in sales revenue. And every time we grow that number, it results in another business being successful in Downtown Weldon. That will produce a thriving downtown with a variety of successful businesses.
Let’s expand on that idea and do some more math.
Let’s say that Weldon has been successful in developing our sites to see and things to do that are packaged in ways that make it easy for someone to come and enjoy.
Let’s also say that Weldon has attracted several Bed and Breakfast Inns and a Boutique Hotel in one of the downtown buildings.
And let’s say that in one weekend, there are 16 couples staying in Downtown Weldon.
Each couple, while in Weldon could be paying for a two-night stay, having 3 lunches, 2 dinners, do some shopping, enjoy a river cruise and get a refill of gas for the return trip home. This could easily be a $500 trip by each of the 16 couples.
There could be other spending too. Like hiring a guide for an afternoon of fishing or renting tubes for a float down the river or making a deposit on for a canoe and camping adventure for a return trip a few months later.
Those 16 couples, each spending at least $500 in a weekend would be spending $8000 among area businesses.
To further expand this example, let’s say an additional 10 families come for a day trip on a Saturday and 6 on Sunday. Each family may spend about $100.00 on meals, ice cream, shopping and entertainment/adventures. That will be another $1600. This could total nearly $10,000 spent in one weekend among Weldon’s businesses.
Believe me when I say that the downtown businesses would be thrilled to have an additional $10,000 a weekend pumped into their cash registers.
While this will be good news for existing businesses, it lends itself to attracting more investment into Weldon.
When there is a vibrant downtown, it serves as a symbol of the community’s economic health, providing a higher level of quality of life, giving its citizens something to have pride in and it encompasses the community history.
These are all factors that are looked at by the industrial, commercial and professional developers. Many times these developers will look to see how an area has dealt with their existing business districts and neighborhoods when considering locating there themselves.
Weldon, Let’s Make It Happen!