Mike Cronin

mcronin@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE – A record-shattering October for Buncombe County tourism has the area on pace to celebrate its best year ever, according to data released on Friday by the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Monthly hotel and other lodging-property occupancy rates never had exceeded 81 percent, according to STR Global. The hotel-data company's corporate headquarters is in Hendersonville, Tennessee, while its global headquarters is in London.

But October rates hit an unprecedented 86.2 percent last month. That level also represented a 7.1 increase over last year's rate.

"We're really proud of the progress the destination has made," said Stephanie Pace Brown, the Convention & Visitors Bureau executive director, during a Friday phone interview. "All our partners have worked hard together to tell our story of a great experience that attracts visitors."

The skyrocketing numbers were no surprise to Pace Brown.

"Through advertising, we've been able to educate people about the big variety of things to do here," Pace Brown said.

She pointed to the relatively high number of visitors here during the federal-government shutdown in October 2013.

"We still didn't experience a downturn," Pace Brown said. "It's because we offer so many things. There's not one main driver, like the turning (colors) of the leaves."

Pace Brown viewed last month's all-time high as a "trend capstone of many months of being significantly up. It's a record-smashing culmination of brand building and reaching more and more people through marketing," she said.

The occupancy-rate records coincide with a record-spending amount on paid advertising, Pace Brown said. The budget for this fiscal year, which began on July 1 and ends on June 30, 2015, is $4 million, she said.

That investment has enabled the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau to expand its TV advertising from four markets to nine, Pace Brown said in a prepared statement that accompanied Friday's data release.

Brown concluded that statement by predicting a record-setting year for Asheville.

"The trend in occupancy and demand point to the likelihood of the destination achieving its best year ever, with its tourism indicators hitting the highest annual levels since the inception of the room tax in 1983 and outpacing the national forecast."