Tourism continues to rebound 2 years after Helene, Explore Asheville says
By Rian Stockett
Click here for updates on this story
ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Many business owners attended Explore Asheville’s annual meeting on Thursday to learn where we’re at in tourism recovery two years after Helene.
“…not only to recover but to rebound,” President and CEO of Explore Asheville Vic Isley said during the meeting.
She said Asheville is a tourism destination climbing back from the devastation of a natural disaster.
Posana restaurant co-owner Peter Pollay attended Explore Asheville’s meeting to learn what’s being done to bring more visitors to the area, including Asheville.
“I’m kind of interested to see what they’re going to say on what their plan is to get more tourism in here, because it is still down, and also to see what the trends are around the country,” said Pollay.
He says Posana relies on tourism and that business isn’t what it was before Helene.
“We have a lot of employees that we like to give checks to. We love to build peoples’ careers, so it’s a little stressful but we’re doing alright, we’re hanging in there, we’re doing OK,” said Pollay.
At the meeting, Adam Sacks from Tourism Economics delivered a keynote speech on tourism recovery from Helene.
“Buncombe County continues to rebound. We’ve seen this in the data,” said Sacks.
While he says that the recovery is remarkable, he notes that for 2026, combined hotel and short-term rental room demand and combined lodging revenue were below pre-Helene levels.
But he says there was a 5.4% growth in lodging during the first eight months of this year.
In his speech, Sacks also acknowledged national trends that work in Asheville’s favor like the shift toward driving instead of flying.
“From April 26 to August 2026, a drop from 48% to 40% travel by air and an increase in road from 26 to 32,” said Sacks.
According to Explore Asheville, 50% of the U.S. population lives within 600 miles of Asheville.
“People are still planning to travel but they’re changing how they travel so they might be going closer to home,” said Isley.
Pollay said the data shared in the meeting seems pretty positive for Asheville.
“Hopefully everyone out there knows that Asheville is open and ready to accept people and show everyone what we’re all about,” said Pollay.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.