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Hurricane Helene caused big losses for North Carolina's fall tourism industry

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Western North Carolina continues to struggle after being hit by the remnants of Hurricane Helene. Compounding the losses is the fact that tourism is down, even in areas ready to welcome people back, as Blue Ridge Public Radio's Lilly Knoepp reports.

LILLY KNOEPP, BYLINE: Three weeks after the storm moved through western North Carolina, the town of Franklin held its annual pumpkin roll.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Three, two, one, roll.

KNOEPP: This year, officials crossed their fingers that visitors, also known as leaf lookers, would return for the festival, as October is traditionally the most important month for the region's economy. Thirteen thousand came, which was good but didn't make up for the loss earlier in the month. Franklin town manager Amie Owens says fall is the town's economic engine.

AMIE OWENS: October is definitely our big month here. We have not only the beautiful mountains and the leaves changing colors, but people start doing their pre-Christmas shopping. And in a tourism economy like we have, October is pretty much make-or-break month.

KNOEPP: To tell tourists that not all the mountains were a disaster zone, the regional marketing organization, called Visit Smokies, put up billboards that said, we are open. Photos of the billboards went viral. Mici Canales with Visit Smokies saw the need for the billboards after seeing only a thousand people at their visitor center at the beginning of October. They usually see more than 6,000. That's not good for local restaurants and shops, she said.

MICI CANALES: These businesses are owned by mom and pop. They don't have a corporate backing. And so what will end up inevitably happening is businesses are going to have to close doors.

KNOEPP: Right after the storm, she says, many local store owners in areas that weren't destroyed got involved in recovery efforts in neighboring counties.

CANALES: These businesses - they're volunteering. They're donating. They're giving of their own resources as much as possible. But what's happening is you can't pour from an empty cup.

KNOEPP: She says, in a small survey, 78% of businesses report a significant loss in revenue since the storm. Canales now hopes more visitors will celebrate the upcoming holiday season in the mountains and support local businesses. For NPR News, I'm Lilly Knoepp, in Franklin, North Carolina. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Lilly Knoepp