Bethany Fuller | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | Aug. 30, 2007

Fast cars, horses, business trips and Lake Norman brought $172.69 million to Iredell County in 2006.

The amount of money tourists and visitors spent at restaurants and hotels in Iredell County went up by 11 percent from 2005, according to 2006 Economic Impact of Travel On North Carolina Counties by the Travel Industry Association of America.

“It’s a tremendous amount of sales revenue for the county and each town,” said Ron Johnson, chairman of the Mooresville Convention and Visitors Bureau’s board of directors. “Those numbers have increased drastically.”

Libba Barrineau, executive director of Statesville Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the center recently started doing a lot of tracking to figure out who is visiting the area.

Overall, $15.4 billion was spent in North Carolina in 2006, an 8.3 percent increase from 2005 and the largest single-year increase since tracking began in 1990, according to a Statesville Convention and Visitors Bureau news release.

Barrineau said her staff is preparing for one of its busiest times of the year with the Crossroads Pumpkin Festival and Carolina BalloonFest coming up.

“Tourism in Statesville and Iredell County is growing and will continue to grow in the future,” she said.

People don’t just come to Iredell County to look around, Johnson said. They come to do business as well.

“Corporate travel is definitely up,” he said.

Johnson believes the tourism market flourished in Iredell County because of its location. Combined with Lake Norman and the two interstates, the county has a lot of room for tourism.

The number of hotels is an issue the tourism bureau has tried to keep in check over the years.

A lot of hotels in the area, Johnson said, have reported double digit revenue increases.

The tourism bureau didn’t want the supply to outstrip the demand.

Still, a number of hotels are scheduled to open in Iredell County in the next few years.

Gateway Hospitality, which opened the Hampton Inn in January, plans to build a 94-room Courtyard next door to the Marriott.

“We are excited about the tourism market,” said Andy Briggs, general manager of the Hampton Inn.

Construction on the Marriott brand hotel should start in 2008.
Johnson said a Hilton Garden Inn is scheduled to open off of Exit 33 in 2008.

Racing is a major part of Mooresville’s and North Carolina’s economy, Johnson said.

Motorsports brings in $5 billion a year in North Carolina, and Johnson said a healthy portion of that goes to Mooresville.

“I doubt anyone has a handle on that,” he said. “There is no way to know (how much).”

Nicknamed Race City USA, Mooresville is home to more than 60 racing teams.

Fans who come to the town can visit shops between races to watch as cars from NASCAR’s Nextel Cup, Busch Series, the Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA receive maintenance, improvements and testing.

Local points of interest are also seeing a lot of new faces.
Up in Love Valley, a series of news spots has really brought the western-themed town to the forefront, said Beth Nance, manager of the Love Valley Arena.

“We’ve had some very good publicity,” she said. “It’s different. How many western towns are there in the Southeast?”

More people are making the trip to North Iredell for the horse-training clinics and rodeos held in the small town, she said.

And it’s more than just that, Nance said. The town’s slower pace gives people time to relax and take it easy.

Down in Mooresville, a lot of people are taking in attractions such as Memory Lane Motorsports and Automotive Historical Museum and the Lazy 5 Ranch.

“I think there are more people in the area, and more people are looking for something to do,” said Wendy Wilson with the Lazy 5 Ranch, a privately owned exotic animal drive-through park.

Visitors are looking for something family-oriented in particular, she said.

People like how the interaction between the animals on the ranch is monitored and allowed to happen, she said.

“I hear that all the time,” she said.

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