Tourism up at mountain parks last year

WAYNESVILLE -- Tourism increased in western North Carolina's national parks last year, despite high gas prices that hovered around $3 a gallon.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park saw its largest increase in tourism in five years and the Blue Ridge Parkway reported a 6 percent increase in visitors.

The Smokies reported a 2 percent increase in the number of visitors in 2006, to 9.4 million people, according to numbers released Friday. Visitation to the park peaked in 2000 with 10 million visitors a year.

Tourism attractions in surrounding communities and the region's proximity to metropolitan areas kept numbers high, officials said.

The mountain economies near the parks thrive on visitors, who spend $652 million a year at local hotels and restaurants in communities that border the parks.

"Here in Bryson City, the gateway to the Smoky Mountains, we have the hiking, biking and camping we have paddling," said Debi Yarrington, an owner of Mountain Perks, a restaurant and coffee house across from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

"Its all kind of centralized right here and you don't have to go very far to get to any of that."

Roxanne Marshall, marketing manager for the railroad, said her business was up 9 percent last year.

Last year, the parkway had 21 million visitors.

"I think part of that is we have so many people that live in close proximity to these to parks," said Martha Bogle, the parkway's deputy superintendent. "There are huge population areas. People still want to take vacations. They want to be able to enjoy their families and travel so I think they are staying closer to home."