[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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