By Michelle Bliss
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/whqr/local-whqr-984210.mp3
Wilmington, NC – As Hurricane Irene recovery continues, businesses across the Cape Fear region are now preparing for Labor Day weekend. WHQR's Michelle Bliss reports that after closing their doors during the storm, hotels and restaurants are waiting to see how Irene's timing will affect the tourist season finale.
Craig Galbraith is a hospitality management professor at UNC-Wilmington. He says that while many businesses are hurting from the loss of a weekend's income, local beach communities may actually benefit from other towns' misfortunes.
"Folks that were planning on going to the Cape Hatteras area of the Outer Banks or maybe out to the Washington D.C. area or Virginia, certainly those areas were hit much harder, and so, it's likely that a number of those potential customers or tourists will look to southeastern North Carolina to go ahead and have their experience."
Galbraith says that hurricanes tend to have a larger affect on long-distance travelers who are more likely to shorten or avoid beach vacations for fear that a hurricane could gust into town.
"Where it really does affect peoples' personality or concern is perhaps somebody from Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois who would start to see hurricanes as, Well I'm not going to go to particular areas because now we're going to have a lot of hurricanes.' So, they may look elsewhere for their vacation."
But there is a silver lining: Galbraith says that local beach towns could see extra business from vacationers forced to postpone their trips because of the storm.
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