Influential legislators from the House and Senate joined the N.C. Association of Resort Towns & Convention Cities (RTCC) on Thursday to discuss how tourism destinations are enhancing the economy -- at the state level and locally, from the mountains to the coast. RTCC, a League affiliate, serves to promote statewide legislative support for travel and tourism, ensure equitable distribution of resources for communities whose economies are based on travel and tourism, and strengthen links between resort towns and convention cities.

Rep. Chuck McGrady addresses RTCC
Sen. Norman Sanderson, an Arapahoe lawmaker who co-chairs the Senate Committee on State and Local Government, told the group during a breakfast meeting in Raleigh that mountain towns and coastal towns naturally have differing needs. "But there are a lot of parallels that go with those needs," Sanderson said, adding they must be communicated to the legislature as a whole. Resort towns across the state face infrastructure strains from the significant population swells of tourism, making the upkeep of reliable utilities and roads important, noted Rep. Chuck McGrady, a Hendersonville lawmaker and a top budget writer in the House. "I'm not aware of many tourism areas that don't have that need," McGrady said.

Sen. Norman Sanderson highlights common ground between coastal and mountain towns
Meanwhile, these tourism areas give tremendous payoff to the state, making investments in tourism communities from state government worthwhile, Sanderson and others noted. Last year, tourism in North Carolina generated better than $1.1 billion in state tax receipts and supported more than 211,000 jobs, according to the U.S. Travel Association. "I don't know of many industries that have the return on investment on the dollars that we spend (as tourism does), because it brings in that outside money," said Sanderson. McGrady encouraged unity among all tourism and convention towns for an effective message. He added he was pleased with the House's proposed budget, approved on Thursday, for its investment in travel and tourism. The plan would give an additional $1.5 million to the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina to increase tourism advertising. Click here to read a blogpost McGrady authored on tourism to North Carolina and how 2015 was a banner year. But neighboring states are spending heavily on tourism as well, and officials here are hopeful the legislature can beat their momentum. "In order to grow travel and tourism in North Carolina ... we're going to have to invest," said Sanderson.

RTCC members outside the House and Senate galleries.
Thursday's gathering of resort towns and convention cities brought out roughly 35 officials from more than 20 municipalities who visited the Legislative Building, sat in on the day's House and Senate sessions, received recognition in the gallery and discussed issues face-to-face with lawmakers. The League would like to thank everyone who made this coordinated event so successful as well as the municipal officials and state legislators who attended. To learn more about RTCC or for questions, email rtcc@nclm.org.