Nature's Playground is open for business and good business it is

The Burke County Tourism Development Authority (TDA) has a strategic plan for marketing Burke County to visitors and it’s working.

Visitors to Burke spent $121 million in 2021 an increase of nearly $35 million since 2013, nearly 10 years ago.

Some 800 Burke residents are employed in the hospitality and tourism industry with an estimated payroll of $27.5 million.

Ed Phillips, the C.E.O. of the Burke County TDA says the tourism industry in Burke continues to grow and prosper with new and re-branded accommodations, more than 175 unique vacation rentals, and campgrounds.

When COVID broke out in 2020 and people sought open spaces for recreation, Burke County had it all.

The Pisgah National Forest and state parks in Burke saw record numbers of visitors. Many weekends, there was a line to get in to South Mountain State Park which had more visitors than parking spaces would allow for.

The greenways, parks and open spaces all saw record number of visitors. These “city-slickers” from Charlotte and other nearby markets had found “Nature’s Playground” in Burke County!

The strategic plan for the TDA includes working with travel publications and journalists looking for unique stories.

Little Guatemala coffee shop was recently featured on “N.C. Weekend” on PBS- North Carolina, a direct result of TDA staff reaching out to the television producers for the network and telling them about the shop.

Examples of these public relations successes are reported by TDA staff each year.

The TDA recently began gathering visitor data using new software and partner technology that measures visitor spending and travel patterns by visitors inside the county.

More than 20,000 visitors were tracked in Burke in 2022 using cell-phone technology and credit card receipts, which revealed an average daily expenditure of $101 for day-trippers and $319 for overnight visitors. This tracking technology is relatively new, and the data is still coming in.

The future of the tourism economy in Burke County is promising. The outdoor spaces aren’t going away and more are being added to the inventory.

Oak Hill Community Park’s 652 acres are being developed into hiking and mountain biking trails by Foothills Conservancy.

Located just outside of Morganton along NC Highway 126, once completed, the park will have back pack and car camping sites along with educational facilities and fun places for people to explore. Some sections of the park may be open in late spring of this year.

The Morganton campus of the North Carolina School of Math and Science is one of many entities that bring visitors to Burke County. In August of this year, 300 high school students will arrive on campus. 150 of those will be high school seniors finishing their two years at the school, while another 150 will start theirs. Families of these students will visit often throughout the year and special events will brings hundreds to Burke County. The impact of the school will last for generations.

The hospitality and tourism economy in Burke County is here to stay. Charlotte, Burke’s largest market, is growing rapidly with new residents looking to visit the mountains and foothills close by. Burke has the outdoors, the lakes, the rivers.

Everything for families to enjoy!