[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 64 (Friday, May 20, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: May 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
A MAGNET TRIANGLE FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
______
HON. CHARLES H. TAYLOR
of north carolina
in the house of representatives
Friday, May 20, 1994
Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, most congressional offices
generally divide their work into two areas, constituent casework and
legislative services. But there is an additional dimension which my
office provides to the people of western North Carolina: the
utilization of congressional office resources to enhance regional
economic development.
As part of our third dimension outreach approach to operating the
congressional office, nonpartisan priority councils were created in
each of the 11th Congressional District's 16 counties. These councils
were comprised of more than 500 western North Carolina citizens from a
diversity of backgrounds. The priority councils consisted of elected
officials, economic development officers, chamber of commerce
executives, small businessowners, farmers, and Federal officials.
Together, they helped identify regional development projects that can
be expedited with Federal assistance.
I am proposing one component of our plan to create more jobs in the
region and augment the western North Carolina economy.
While the focus of this proposal is to increase jobs tied primarily
to tourism, there are additional benefits to this approach. Tourism can
be the catalyst for economic development in other sectors of the
economy by bringing in visitors who then open or expand business or
industry in the area.
Competition for tourism dollars is increasing. Gatlinburg, TN, has
recently added 6 new attractions, Myrtle Beach, SC, has added 16 new
attractions, and Chattanooga, TN, is opening a multimillion-dollar
aquarium.
We know that Tennessee earns $15 to North Carolina's $1 in tourism-
generated income because it capitalizes on the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park. Gatlinburg, Cades Cove, and many other park facilities
on the Tennessee side are responsible for much of their State's
economic growth. Tennessee uses the park as an engine to drive economic
growth. North Carolina has not had the capital investment to attract
additional tourism revenue.
We are blessed with the most beautiful region in the world, but while
more than 14 million visitors per year come into western North Carolina
on the Blue Ridge Parkway, many of them do not consider us a
destination, nor do they spend sufficient time in our region to boost
the local economy.
On average, each visitor on the Blue Ridge Parkway spends only a
fraction of a day with us. The majority pass through for other
destinations.
Clearly, our region's goal must be to entice more of these visitors
to stay longer. Currently, most of our local and State efforts are
directed to that end, but they need to be supplemented and coordinated.
The triangle magnet plan is designed to augment local and State
efforts to attract and keep more tourism dollars by developing Federal
resources in the area.
We have three principal Federal assets in the region: the Blue Ridge
Parkway; more than 1 million acres of U.S. Forest Service lands, and
the majority of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park's land area.
We understand the need to construct the Blue Ridge Parkway
Headquarters outside of Asheville in Buncombe County. The Priority
Councils of Buncombe, Transylvania, and Jackson counties recommended
it, the Blue Ridge Parkway Council and Superintendent of the Blue Ridge
Parkway have requested it, and land was acquired for it by Congress in
1986.
I recommend we expand the plan from only basic headquarters building,
to a headquarters and visitor's center that will present the assets of
our region, possible through an IMAX Cinema presentation of the
attractions in each county.
The Blue Ridge Parkway and Visitor's Center then becomes a magnet for
our region.
For some time, I have been working with the U.S. Forest Service and
the Cradle of Forestry in America Interpretive Association to augment
the present plan in a modest way. I recommend that we expand our
activities and re-visit the original 1968 Cradle plan that included
utilization of the 8,000 acres of forest used by Gifford Pinchot in his
pioneering forestry studies nearly 100 years ago.
The original Cradle plan called for an expenditure of $8.7 million.
That has been increased to $12,000,000 to adjust for inflation. Our
goal is to create a world-class education exhibit that teaches the wise
use of our natural resources and interprets the history of modern
resource management in the region, going back to the founding of modern
silviculture by Mr. Pinchot.
The expansion of the Cradle of Forestry increases its draw as a
magnet for the area.
The third leg of the Magnet Triangle is to move the Oconoluftee
Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to the front
burner. This center will focus on the rich heritage of our families and
the communities they built. It will be combined with other park
activities and improvements.
This center was promised by the Federal Government to our people
nearly 60 years ago when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was
established.
It is our objective to see that the three legs of this Magnet
Triangle are developed in such a way that each serves as a window on
the entire region. Each of these projects are unique, creating a desire
for visitors to see the others, as well as the dozens of other
attractions in Western North Carolina.
The objective of this Magnet Triangle is to, over the next 5 years,
help double the economic benefits of tourism to the region, and
increase the present $1 billion in tourism business to more than $2
billion by the turn of the century. This ambitious goal can be
accomplished by increasing the average stay of the present 14 million
visitors by 1 day, enticing one-third of those 14 million visitors to
stay an additional 2\1/2\ days, or by doubling the present number of
visitors.
Success will require a little bit of each.
We currently have $1 billion in annual tourism revenue in western
North Carolina. If all tourism revenue in western North Carolina came
from Parkway travelers, the average stay of each tourist would be the
equivalent of only eight-tenths of 1 day. We know the average stay is
actually much less.
A North Carolina State University study shows that if tourism dollars
are doubled, related tourism job growth will increase between 30 to 50
percent. Doubled tourist dollars will increase the present 22,730
tourism jobs to more than 33,000 based on a 40 percent job gain. These
10,000 new jobs for the region may be supplemented by other jobs in
manufacturing if longer stays by visitors inspire them to make business
investments in the region. It has been said that tourism is the
ambassador of economic development. There is much more at stake here
than tourism.
Creating 10,000 new jobs in western North Carolina will take the
continued support and participation of many community and business
leaders across the region. The plan calls for some $50,000,000 in
Federal appropriated improvements to the three magnets.
Parkway Headquarters and Visitor Center.....................$14,102,000
Cradle of Forestry...........................................12,000,000
Oconoluftee Visitor Center...................................11,178,000
Facility Expansion and Upgrading.............................12,720,000
This plan is possible. In 1991, I proposed a 10-year $50,000,000 plan
for the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Oteen is moving on
schedule with the first phase, a 120-bed nursing center, now under
construction. And we saved the jobs at the Climatic Data Center in
Asheville by winning approval of some $30,000,000 for construction of
the new Federal building which is nearing completion. The building is
expected to open this summer.
We are committed to the Magnet Triangle goal and are dedicated to
accomplishing it on a regional basis, with the effort and cooperation
of everyone on the region.
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