Traditionally, the tourism sector has defined itself as a single tactic — marketing. It has also defined overall success as a single metric — volume. There are few other sectors beyond tourism where the organizations stewarding their industries spend so much more effort and resources on marketing a product than they do developing and managing a product. Addressing that in recent years, the world’s most progressive organizations in tourism have been expanding from destination marketing to destination management. It’s a shift from promoting communities to engaging and stewarding communities, which in turn, provides more livable, lovable and sustainable destinations.

In this new paradigm, the impact of tourism can no longer be measured solely in economic terms. We must also measure success against the well-being of destinations, considering nature, human health, and community identities. We must be thoughtful about how the quality of the visitor experience can be balanced with the quality of life for residents; about the types of visitors who would provide maximum financial value to our local communities while having the optimal social and environmental impact, and how we can responsibly grow our tourism industry for the benefit of all in our communities.

The future success of the visitor economy — and the growth of direct and indirect benefits it provides for the local economy — depend on the public, private and civic sectors collaborating to ensure the long-term viability of the destination. That alignment between government, industry and civic organizations is crucial. It requires area leaders co-developing a shared vision for the future that supports visitor growth while continually enhancing the destination as a healthy, dynamic and productive place for all residents to live, work and play.

A tourism management plan allows a community to take a strategic approach to define its competitive positioning as a destination. These plans are a critical step in identifying and prioritizing those opportunities for enhancements to the visitor and resident experience that will position the community as a desirable place to live, work and visit, and extend the benefits of the visitor economy throughout the community.

Tourism has been the Outer Banks’ largest economic engine for many decades. Despite numerous natural and manmade calamities over the years, tourism has proven to be incredibly resilient and productive for our community. Today, tourism represents a $1.97 billion industry for Dare County.

The local industry’s success presents several challenges, though, as millions of guests visit our small community (37,000 year-round residents) each year. This strain has been exacerbated by the unprecedented boom in visitation we’ve seen during the COVID pandemic.

Tourism improves the quality of life for residents with the jobs, tax revenue, recreational and entertainment opportunities, and infrastructure dollars it provides. While these benefits are fundamental to our community, the negative impacts are significant as well.

The Dare County Tourism Board wishes to establish a long-term management plan for tourism that will allow it to grow responsibly and in a way that is sustainable over time, optimizing the benefits for the local community while minimizing and managing the negative impacts.

• Creating a clearly defined long-term vision for Dare County’s visitor economy, to which the community and stakeholders are committed, with an agreed understanding of what success looks like
• Identifying opportunities to develop and/or enhance visitor experiences that meet the visitors’ expectations while maintaining authenticity to the destination brand
• Identifying areas of need that require management for proactive mitigation planning
• Prioritizing actions for achieving the long-term vision that are realistic and achievable
• Building stronger alignment between the visitor economy, economic development and community well-being through a collaborative process
• Identifying the tools necessary to guide the management of tourism impacts on the environment, transportation, infrastructure, local culture and heritage and the economy

In consultation with the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, MMGY NextFactor developed an online survey to identify and gauge Dare County residents’ perceptions about a variety of key characteristics with respect to livability, culture, economy and sense of place on the Outer Banks. More than 4,500 residents and non-resident property owners responded to the survey between October 24 and November 28, 2022.

MMGY NextFactor also facilitated two resident town hall visioning sessions in January 2023 – one at the Fessenden Center Activity Room in Buxton, NC and one at the Ramada Plaza Oceanfront in Kill Devil Hills, NC. The meetings were attended by approximately 200 residents, as well as local media. These sessions offered residents and non-resident property owners an opportunity to share their vision for the future of tourism on the Outer Banks and were focused on solution-oriented exercises and group discussions.

In addition, a comprehensive stakeholder survey, in-depth one-on-one interviews and several focus groups with local community members contributed to the data-gathering process. The LRTMP report was crafted and presented to the public on May 24, 2023.

The creation of the LRTMP, as well as the current and future implementation of the plan, is funded through the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau’s annual operating budget. The Bureau is funded entirely by a 1% Prepared Meals tax that is collected by Dare County restaurants and a 1% Occupancy Tax collected by Dare County lodging businesses throughout the year.