November Newsletter: Leveraging Tourism for Greater Benefits to our Community
November 2, 2021
Hello Fall!
The busy fall season is the perfect time to continue our work together on strategies to leverage Asheville's tourism sector to improve the lives of Asheville's residents, and preserve this special place for the future.
Thrive officially launched the Ideas to Action Forum on September 22 to do just that, working with a diverse group of community leaders to study issues, possibilities and develop actionable strategies to support a sustainable tourism future for Asheville.
As part of the kick-off of this work, Thrive partnered with Mountain True and the Building Our City Speaker Series to hear from a global leader in the field of Sustainable Tourism, Megan Epler Wood, along with our community's own Explore Asheville CEO Vic Isley. These presentations helped set the stage for understanding what's happening locally, and provided context on how our challenges and goals fit more broadly into work being done around the world to re-think tourism.
Check out a video of the presentation below, and learn more about Thrive's Ideas to Action Forum!
How can Sustainable Tourism support a more equitable and resilient Asheville?
We hope you agree that the presentations provided some important information, ideas and insights. Thrive staff has also been meeting with and learning from Megan Epler Wood and various community members and stakeholders for the past 6 months. Our key take-aways thus far are that 1) We need to build more shared understanding of the benefits and impacts of tourism in our community through data; and 2) Our community should be involved in determining what we value about tourism, and how we want to see tourism support goals of our community; and 3) Socio-cultural benefits and impacts of tourism are hard to measure and having community voices at the table is critical for considering actionable strategies to move forward.
What are your take-aways from the presentations and your experience of tourism in Asheville? What are some actionable strategies that we should learn more about?
Ideas to Action Forum Kick-Off
Between September 2021 and May of 2022, Thrive is working with a cohort of local leaders to identify actionable ways to pursue a tourism future that supports our community to the greatest extent possible.
The first meeting was held on September 22. After further learning and presentations on tourism related data in our region, the group identified tourism-related concerns and values, as well as ideas to learn more about. One thing that became clear, is that it can be difficult to pinpoint the specific impacts of tourism. For example, cost of living and housing affordability were highlighted as major concerns across the group, however, there are many factors besides tourism that have a significant role in these challenges we face as a community. Frustration about traffic is another example. Data presented during the session pointed out that most of the population growth in Buncombe County between 2010 and 2020 took place outside the city limits, and that 76% of people working in Asheville do not live in the city. There are over 67,000 commuters accessing their jobs daily (primarily by personal vehicle), while, on average, there are 30,000 daily visitors. With these examples in mind, tourism's specific impacts need more study, but it's clear that different sectors of our community have roles to play in finding win-win actions and ideas to help address concerns.
The group also outlined values of tourism as visionary statements, and to inspire opportunities for collaboration on actionable strategies. There was wide agreement among the group that tourism in Asheville can support jobs, career advancement and entrepreneurial opportunities that enable a diversity of people, especially Black and brown people, to live and thrive in Asheville. Also, that tourism can leverage the protection and preservation of our most loved cultural assets, local character, and outdoor areas. By defining and finding agreement on these and other goals for tourism, we will be better positioned to work together to ensure implementation.
Our community is asking some of the toughest, most forward-thinking and relevant questions about the role that tourism plays in destination communities. Our work is part of a new frontier in thinking about, and re-thinking tourism. In the months ahead, Thrive's cohort will work on identifying and evaluating specific actions for possible implementation. We are excited to keep you informed, and seek your feedback along the way!
Engage with us on social media, learn more about the Ideas to Action Forum on our website, and share your tourism story through our community survey!
Talking 'Ship: Thrive Asheville's Entrepreneurial Approach to Non-Profit Work
Thrive's Executive Director Kate Pett had the pleasure of talking with Jeff Kaplan for the Venture Asheville podcast, Talking 'Ship. You might be wondering how Kate's work to create social benefits connects with Jeff's work growing for-profit start-ups. Interestingly, they found many shared strategies and approaches. Thrive is taking some lessons from entrepreneurs by looking for pain points, that when addressed, can result in big returns on investment (for the community). Venture Asheville is connecting entrepreneurs with mentors and financing through programming and events, and is a convener and connector - like Thrive. Venture Asheville is creating big returns for our community.
We encourage you to enjoy a walk in our beautiful fall weather, tune into the episode, and learn more about how we can grow innovation across sectors.
What Happens to Short Term Rentals in the Long Term?
A recent article in the Mountain Xpress discusses the pandemic's influence on short term rental (STR) demand locally and as part of a national trend. From July 2018 - June 2019, STR sales accounted for 17.8% of all room sales in Buncombe County. Two years later, for the period July 2020 - June 2021, that share more than doubled to 37.4%.
The article also discusses some policy considerations. New, whole-unit STRs are not allowed within the city limits of Asheville, but homestay permits are available for owner-occupied homes to rent out rooms on a short term basis. Outside of Asheville in Buncombe County, there are currently little to no restrictions on short term rentals, but County Commission Chair Brownie Newman cited concerns, and the possibility of considering some level of regulation. Interestingly, there are currently multiple bills at the state level that would restrict the ability for local governments to regulate STRs.
Thrive Asheville Executive Director Kate Pett is quoted in the article expressing concerns about local government losing the ability to regulate STRs and the additional negative impacts that could have on affordability and availability of housing in Asheville.
Read the full article in the Mountain Xpress here.
A couple of other recent stories we found interesting:
WNYC's The Takeaway explores the worker shortage in the food industry. Listen to the story here.
New York Times Opinion Piece discusses some of the impacts that tourism can have on places that are "loved to death" and insight into the pandemic being a resent for conscientious travel. Read the story here.