Lured by the promise of drivable, socially distanced adventure, visitors from across the region have flocked to Jackson County in record numbers this year.

During the initial pandemic panic back in March, many merchants in Macon County closed up shop while they tried to reassess all their plans for 2020. 

Swain County’s economy relies heavily on the tourism industry from outdoor recreation businesses to downtown retailers, restaurants and the railroad. 

With the economic powerhouse that is Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort surfacing as one of the pandemic era’s most-impacted local businesses, it stands to reason that the future of Cherokee’s business community would be among the region’s most uncertain. 

For Western North Carolinians who see the outdoors as a safe haven when life gets hard, perhaps the most distressing part of the pandemic’s early days was the domino-like succession of closures in the region’s parks, forests and other open spaces. 

When North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper gave the order to close bars and restaurants back on March 17, that was only the beginning of a series of blows the Coronavirus Pandemic would inflict upon the state’s leisure and hospitality industry. 

Things were looking bleak for the tourism industry — for all industries, really — as coronavirus shutdowns and stay-at-home orders fell into place this spring, but six months into the pandemic, the outlook for Jackson County’s biggest business is downright rosy. 

The Coronavirus Pandemic hasn’t stopped the Swain County Tourism Development Authority from having another record-setting year in occupancy tax revenue. 

During the summer and fall of 2019, room occupancy tax data collected by Haywood County’s Tourism Development Authority suggested that the county was on track for another strong year, perhaps its best ever. 

The Town of Franklin is one of the many local governments that saw a decrease in its occupancy tax revenue this year due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.