NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Smoky Mountain tourist area has received an unexpected boost from Hurricane Irene as summer-end travellers move away from the storm-battered coast.
Businesses in the East Tennessee region report an influx of patrons who fled the hurricane last weekend or who are changing Labour Day plans because of damage on the East Coast, particularly in nearby North Carolina and Virginia.
The Wilderness at the Smokies water park and 1,000-room hotel complex in Sevierville has had hundreds of phone calls about availability over the Labour Day weekend because of the hurricane disruption.
“Reservations (department) rang nonstop from people changing plans or trying to,” said Rick Laney, a spokesman for the attraction. The venue is booked up for the three-day holiday.
Last Friday, the site booked about 225 rooms from insurance adjusters looking for a central location to depart after the hurricane was over.
Tourism officials in Gatlinburg, a gateway city to the mountains, had an influx of tourists last weekend as the hurricane forecasts were issued. Some of them were East Coast residents trying to escape the weather, said Jim Davis, a spokesman for the city.
“Many of those visitors are staying over this week and we expect another influx of Labor Day vacationers who had their plans altered to come to the Smokies and boost what has traditionally been a very solid final gasp of summer,” Davis said.
As of Monday, the city had plenty of rooms and cabins available.
Officials at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina border, said it’s hard to tell if business will pick up over the holiday weekend because of the hurricane.
“It’s a reasonable alternative, though,” spokeswoman Nancy Gray said.
The park has 9.4 million visitors annually, attracted by mountain vistas and the chance to see a black bear. It is the most popular national park.
Leon Downey, a tourism spokesman for Pigeon Forge, Tenn., another town in the Smoky foothills, said the Labor Day weekend usually means brisk business even without outside factors like a hurricane.
“It’s usually a busy time for us,” he said. “Kids have a long weekend and so do most parents. If the weather is good, normally we do very well on major holidays.”
Roan Mountain State Park, the closest state park to North Carolina, is already fully booked for the coming weekend.
Laney, who represents businesses throughout the Smokies area, said the situation resulting from Hurricane Irene reminded some about what happened after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The Smokies area got some visitors who normally would have gone to New Orleans or elsewhere.
“But you never like to capitalize on someone else’s misfortune,” he said.
