In 62 of 100 North Carolina counties, visitor spending increased in 2008 according to Governer Bev Purdue. Mecklenburg County lead all other counties in increased visitor spending, not surprisingly followed by Wake County and then Guilford County. This is good news, as jobs were actually created and maintained by the record setting $16.9 billion spent by out of state visitors here in North Carolina.
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From the Apex Herald:
http://www.theapexherald.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Visitor+spending+rises+in+62+N-C-+Countie...
Gov. Bev Perdue announced today that 62 of the state’s 100 counties saw increases in visitor spending in 2008, including 16 counties that had increases of more than 5 percent.
Data from the N.C. Department of Commerce’s Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development showed domestic visitors to and within North Carolina spent a record $16.9 billion in 2008, an increase of 2.1 percent from 2007.
Visitor expenditures directly generated 190,500 jobs and nearly $4.2 billion in payroll income within North Carolina in 2008. Payroll increased 3.9 percent from 2007. Visitor spending in the state also directly generated close to $2.7 billion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments in 2008, up 3.6 percent from 2007.
We know that current economic conditions are affecting businesses all across the state, including those in the tourism industry,” Gov. Perdue said. “But this continued economic growth, and especially growth in tax revenues, is encouraging.”
Onslow and Forsyth counties had the largest year-to-year increase in visitor spending by percentage from 2007 - 2008. Thirty five counties received over $100 million in domestic visitor spending.
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Perhaps it might be a good idea for our legislature to take a look at these numbers, figure out where this spending is going on and see if they can't come up with a plan to get people to visit and spend money in Western North Carolina like they are in the Piedmont and Eastern coastal communities.
I have an idea! Why, they could kill two proverbial birds with one stone here. Why don't they set up beautiful windmills in the mountains where they could then advertise the Majestic Windmills of Western Carolina and while they are at it, save the area from more and more acid rain which is killing the ridge line views they are so worried about? I've seen those windmills, and they are majestic. It just takes putting forth the word about them in the correct light, and the next thing you know we have a double winner for the people of NC!
Comments
James, you know a thing or three about
advertising and marketing. Can you get on this right away? ;-)
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
You do not even know what counties are in the mountains!
You missed some mountain counties that were still in the positive and some in the negative, and I agree, the tourists were more frugal. That is why the people who had the vision and the passion to create the 1983 Mountain Ridge Protection Act knew what they were doing.....saving the ridges from people like you who present no research on the so called "benefits" of wind energy, and who want to waste TAX PAYER money throwing up turbines that will give no reduction in our overall CO2 emissions. Also, I find it interesting that you do not mention the coast? What? Do you have a second home there and is that why you want the mountain ridges to suck up all of the worthless turbines?
You know nothing about acid rain.....I am ROFLMAO, as wind turbines will not "fix" acid rain. If you are going to bring a dog to this fight, bring one that has some intelligence....at least more than you and perhaps one that can dig a little deeper than a google search.
Let me give you some homework. I challenge you to make a pie chart, showing total US primary energy demand today. I will let you combine wind and solar. How big is the wedge for wind and solar? Feel free to use PowerPoint.
Then think on this.....over the past 30 years our government has pumped over 20 billion dollars in to subsidies in to wind and solar power...and tell me what we have to show for it?
Think about this, and we all have to work together, here. If we are to wean ourselves from fossil fuels in 40 years, and we have to use today's energy technologies, there is NO WAY TO GET THERE FROM HERE. NO WAY. We have to think of something else.
Well
1> All of those counties are in the mountains. Wrong on your part.
2> The benefits of wind energy are well known. Wrong on your part.
3> Nothing other than doing away with coal will fix acid rain. However, wind turbines will assist us to use less coal. Again, wrong on your part.
4> I have some homework for you. Make an apple pie. Use a small bit of nutmeg, freshly ground and some cinnamon and sugar. Make the crust with lard instead of shortening. If you are going to eat trans-fats, the crust might as well turn out flaky.
5> We have a way to get there from here. The sun, the wind and the ocean are a great start. Now move along and make that pie.
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
What was the quarterly break down?
I've seen a lot of these 2008 non-fact facts, but none of the reports are broken out in quarterly spending. 1st & 2nd quarters are very roust, 3rd shows a steep decline and the 4th quarter is just a bust.
Lies, damnable lies, & statistics.
Quarter 1 & 2 in 2009 will show cliff diving on spending in every category.
Move along, nothing to see here.
Wow! I'd love to see those number too. You must have a link
to the quarterly numbers, so save a brother a Google search and include that here so the rest of us can decide if we should move on or not. Considering this wasn't the real point of the diary anyway, did you read the last bit of the post? See, there was a method in the madness of posting this as to WHERE the money was being spent and how that lack of money going to Western Carolina and the legislatures ridiculous ridge line / windmills nonsense.
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
I guess you don't read Econ Blogs
Try reading these blogs (below)a few weeks and you will learn that the big declines from 2008 3rd quarter to the present are the same everywhere. Here is a link from this morning: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Lowes-Reports-Second-Quarter-prnews-3899437168.html?x=0&.v=1
I guess reality is not your specialty, must suck to have a non-fact based political opinion.
As for windmills they should be placed close to urban centers to save money on expensive transmission lines that cost million dollars a mile.
I've just moved here from CA and I know the sound of a windmill farm. Thump, Thump, Thump. The are not majestic they are an eyesore which is why they are far away from major metropolitan areas.
Why is it that urban folks always want to be ecological by dumping the solutions on rural folks?
Paint the tops of your buildings white, retrofit your urban sprawl building to be more energy efficient, once you have completed that process we can talk about direct solar energy for homes, so home owners can sell the excess energy back to the utility companies, then add more insinuation for your 1/8 of an acre planned and gated subdivisions.
Yes, acid rain is bad, coal fired plants are killing the mountains, but the power they generate goes to you city folks. Turn off the neon lights, change to LCD lighting. You know what you have to do but you'd rather feel virtuous by just building these metal monstrosities in our backyard.
I have an idea, why don't you put the windmills in the coastal areas next to the popular beaches, better yet put smaller windmills on top of every building in the triangle area. If the windmills look majestic in the mountains they would look great in the urban areas. That would bring home, to all you urban environmentalist, the lesson of being energy inefficient.
You want ecological power, build it in your back yard.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/
http://www.zerohedge.com/
http://delong.typepad.com/
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/
PS I'm taking the dogs out for a walk in the woods, be back in few hours so don't expect a response, which I know you will have, until I get back.
I guess you are
a jackass that enjoys taking out of context an entire post on something that you don't understand.
Must suck.
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
http://www.dgbnhf.com/
I hear you, James
Someone has to put up with the arrogance of the know-it-alls and it might as well be me.
;-)
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
A sampling of the Numbers by County
It's a .pdf so it might take a minute to load.
Note the percentages (Up or Down) of the Western Carolina Counties.
So, from this we can easily see that the 62 of 100 counties that had a gain did not much hail from the Western part of the state.
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
Fuzzy Logic
I'll let you Goggle it.
Below is the data you supplied
Buncombe Up 0.2%
Cleveland - Down 2.9%
Jackson Down - 4.8%
Transylvania - Down 3.8%
Rutherford Down - 0.2%
Polk - Up 1.0%
Madison Down - 3.5%
Haywood Down - 2.7%
Henderson Down - 0.6%
Swain Down - 7.1%
Clay Down - 3.2%
Graham Down - 4.6%
Cherokee Down - 0.8%
Mitchell Down - 0.1%
Avery Down - 1.1%
Yancy Down - 3.2%
However since the data is skewed positive, due to the up months in the 1st and 2n quarter of 2008, it means the data you posted is actually worse than reported. This is the fundamental problem with all the data coming from every state. So by logic it means what ever budget that was passed in NC, it over estimates revenue and unless there is a miracle recovery in the 4th quarter of 2009 the budget is already busted.
I have no idea what you are talking about.
This is not about estimating revenue. It is about the lack of money spent in the Western North Carolina counties in 2008. Not 2009.
It has nothing to do with Lowes Companies having a lower 2nd Quarter this year than last year. Most visitors to our state don't go to Lowes. They usually have one near home. ;-)
Seriously, I have no idea what you are trying to put say here, although you have stated it in a most arrogant manner. I asked you for a link to where you got the information regarding the issue I put forward, and you send me a link to Lowes Companies. Once again, try to understand this. The post is about Visitor Spending in North Carolina in 2008 and the fact that not much of this money was spent in Western Carolina.
Damn.
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!