The Benefits of Tourism

For an attractive coastal destination like the Oak Island area, tourism and travel are essential in stimulating economic growth, cultivating vibrant communities, creating job opportunities, encouraging new businesses, and elevating the quality of life for residents who enjoy the area every day.

Facilities & Infrastructure

Local residents often do not realize that many of the area’s facilities and infrastructure would not exist without the tourism industry. While Brunswick County has and will continue to experience growth, the full-time resident population would not warrant the multiple grocery stores, improved parks, and recreation facilities, etc. without the influx of the tourist population each year.

In fact, what people fail to understand is that funding for various infrastructure projects like roads, utilities, and hospitals consider the full population of an area including the tourist population of the high season. Much needed local projects like turning NC Highway 211 into a 5-line thoroughfare, adding the second bridge at Middleton Avenue, and adding necessary updates to Dosher Memorial Hospital would not have been possible without the additional population count.

Community

Vacationers and tourists choose destinations based on many factors, one of which involves experiencing the local area as if they were full-time residents. They consider the local activities, historical and cultural attractions, places to shop, and foods available in the area where they’ll be staying. They seek an authentic experience.

They pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into our local economies, supporting our small businesses like family-owned restaurants and quaint boutiques. They pre-purchase produce from area farmers and make donations to local museums. They help supplement the needed funds to maintain the livelihood of businesses that are heavily reliant on the traffic of the high season, businesses that are only open or open full-time during the summer.

Environment

In addition to supporting the local community, the tourism industry also sustains the local environment. Just like those who live in Oak Island, and the surrounding areas year-round, those traveling here contribute to environmental conservation and protection efforts directly and through the revenues they provide.

On Oak Island, beach nourishment and sand dune replacement/planting projects receive much of their funding directly from the accommodation’s taxes collected.

Economic Driver

According to the U.S. Travel Association, in 2022 the U.S. travel industry generated $2.6 Trillion in economic impact and 14.5 million American jobs. The “Economic Impact of Travel on North Carolina Counties 2021” study prepared for Visit North Carolina by Tourism Economics in collaboration with the U.S. Travel Association reported that “domestic and international visitors to and within Brunswick County spent $975.11 million in 2021” with Brunswick County ranking 6th in visitor spending out of the state’s 100 total counties.

In Brunswick County, more than 4,900 people were directly employed by businesses that service the travel and tourism sector. With the County, and more specifically within Oak Island, most of those businesses are locally- and/or family-owned and operated small businesses. This isn’t specific to our local area either; the U.S. Travel Association reported that small businesses accounted for 60% of leisure and hospitality employment and 8 million workers are directly employed within the travel industry.

Tax Revenue

The travel and tourism industry provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue for local municipalities each year. Between July 1 and June 30,2022 the following tax dollars were collected from accommodations alone:

• $4,659,767 – Oak Island
• $385,879 – Caswell Beach (budgeted)
• $228,932 – Southport
• $2,203,501 – Bald Head Island

In fact, due to the same “Economic Impact of Travel on North Carolina Counties 2021” study mentioned above, the TDA reported that “state tax revenue generated in Brunswick County totaled $32.3 million through state and excise taxes, and taxes on personal and corporate income.” It further explained that “about $45.9 million in local taxes were generated from sales and property tax revenue from travel-generated and travel-supported businesses.”

While this tax revenue is earmarked for a variety of items, it is specifically used to fund infrastructure improvements, supplement funds for beach nourishment and beautification, finance governmental departments and staffing, facilitate local events, and support area parks and recreational activities.

In addition, travel spending also supports essential services such as education, emergency response, public safety and more!

In fact, did you know that each U.S. household would have paid an additional $1,270 if not for the tax revenue generated by travel in 2022?!

Tourism Counts

While the tax dollars and jobs associated with the travel industry are often used to justify the need and beneficial nature of tourism, oftentimes the other benefits that tourism brings to an area go unnoticed or unappreciated. As a result, the Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce the first annual “Tourism Counts: What Does Tourism Do for Me?” campaign.

Through this effort, the Tourism Committee of the Chamber aims to foster a broad understanding and appreciation of the travel and tourism industry by communicating the positive impacts of sustainable tourism, facilitating collaborative partnerships with community leaders, and demonstrating how tourism addresses the needs of residents, visitors, and the environment.

Throughout the year, we’ll be sharing information on the Chamber’s social media accounts and during in-person events. We encourage local governmental authorities, business owners, full-time residents, and tourists to join us in learning more about how tourism impacts the life we know and love in the communities of Southport, Oak Island, and surrounding areas.

Contact Us 

For assistance with any of the information listed, please contact the Town by calling 910-201-8015, or using the Staff Directory or Contact Form provided below.  

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