Maggie Valley’s slow and steady decline as a tourist destination comes down to aesthetics, a consultant hired to assess Maggie Valley’s economic challenges told town leaders last week.  

Maggie Valley’s appearance has declined and not kept up with the more sophisticated tastes of today’s tourists, according to his assessment. 

Even though an “overwhelming majority” of community leaders in Haywood County support a lodging tax increase, a state bill that would have done just that died in the state legislature last week.

The Maggie Valley Board of Aldermen have been mired in gridlock for nearly nine months.

With only four town board members at the moment — instead of the typical five — stalemates have ruled the day. From major issues to petty ones, the board has been marked by tie votes and split opinions. Infighting has become the typical interaction at meetings these days.

Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park is scheduled to kick off its 2013 season Memorial Day weekend, thanks to the grit, passionate and determination of its new owner and longtime champion Alaska Pressley, who has slogged ahead with her dream despite hoops and hurdles.

A state bill that would raise Haywood County’s lodging tax is still sitting idly in committee in Raleigh with no signs of going up for a vote soon in the General Assembly.

The Maggie Valley town board will soon divest itself from the role of both judge and jury for new businesses moving into the town’s commercial district.

Without support from the Maggie Valley Lodging Association, a bill to increase the room tax in Haywood County could die in the N.C. General Assembly.

Maggie Valley leaders on opposing sides of the tourist tax hike both claim to have the majority in their corner.

Maggie Mayor Ron DeSimone presented a stack of letters of support from hotel owners to state legislators during a trip to Raleigh last week, urging them to shepherd the room tax increase to passage. DeSimone spent several days visiting lodging businesses in Maggie to see where they stood.

A faction of lodging owners in Maggie Valley is hoping to derail a tax increase on overnight accommodations.

The money brought in — roughly $450,000 a year — would be dedicated solely to building tourism attractions or improving existing ones.

The Maggie Valley Board of Aldermen got an earful from hotel and motel owners Monday during a nearly three-hour meeting held specifically to hear views about a proposed increase to the overnight lodging tax.

The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority and the county board of commissioners both unanimously approved the idea of a hike in the lodging tax — from the current rate of 4 percent to 6 percent. The Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce has also written a letter of support.