Most of the trees around Asheville remain covered with green leaves, but that didn’t stop tourists from filling city streets downtown over the weekend.
Shawn Trutna, who visited Asheville for the first time this weekend with his girlfriend, said fall colors would have been “icing on the cake,” but still looked forward to a weekend in the mountains.
“We’re city people and we thought it was a good combination of getting away, with a city environment, a lot of culture and the mountains,” said Trutna, of Durham. “We thought Asheville would be a good getaway place for us.”
Downtown streets Friday and Saturday bustled with tourists clutching cameras and maps of downtown Asheville, filling restaurants and shops. Workers behind the visitor information desk at the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau also kept busy trying to steer tourists in the right direction.
The fall foliage tourist season typically starts toward the end of September or early October, said Marla Tambellini, vice president of marketing for the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau. Only July rivals this time of year for the number of visitors to Western North Carolina.
In July 2008, 21,029 people visited the Bureau compared to 24,024 last October. During this past July, the Bureau had 23,072 walk-in visitors.
“Generally in October we start seeing the visitors center get busier and we actually stay open a little later on the weekends just to ensure that we can accommodate all the visitors who have happened upon Asheville and don’t have a room yet,” Tambellini said. “What we see in October is the rooms go pretty quickly so often times we are scrambling at the last minute to find rooms for visitors because they didn’t realize they need to plan ahead.”
A recent survey conducted by the U.S. Travel Association indicated that consumers were more interested in travel in July than they were at the same time a year ago, though most also said they would limit their spending.
Tambellini said tourists tend to spend more money during the fall tourist season compared to July.
“The fall foliage season is a critical time for all of Western North Carolina in terms of our economy,” she said.
Larry and Karen Johnson drove from their home in northern Illinois to visit Asheville, specifically the Biltmore Estate. Larry Johnson described the palatial compound as “awesome.”
Karen Johnson said the Biltmore Estate was busy Friday with its homeschool festival. The fall foliage didn’t matter to the Johnsons.
“It wasn’t the color change we were looking for,” Karen Johnson said. “It was to see Biltmore and relax.”
Although the leaves around Asheville remain more or less green, leaves have started to change color in the higher elevations, Tambellini said. Weekly fall color reports are available on the Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site.
For three years, Susan Ruvolo has sold purses at the Grove Arcade Portico Market. Like many area businesses, tourism helps drive Ruvolo’s business, Asheville Purse.
“It was surprisingly good (Saturday),” Ruvolo said. “I didn’t expect much because it usually dies before the leaves change.”
Foot traffic usually dies down around the second week of September until the second week of October, before business picks back up, Ruvolo said.
“It’s pretty good right now. We have a lot of people from neighboring states like Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, but as the leaves change, they’ll be from everywhere.”
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