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This article is continued
from the January 2010 CarolinaLiving.com
eBrief.
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Tourism Still Birth Mother to Relocation
Dr. Jason Draper at Clemson University surveyed about 200 relocated families to the Carolinas. All began their search by using CarolinaLiving.com resources and completed the 26-question Carolina Lifestyle Survey™ outlining their preferences.
Dr. Draper’s key finding reaffirmed how singularly important is ... the visit experience to the ultimate decision to move and or invest here. It points to the unique positioning a visitor feels as our “smiling faces and beautiful places” motivate the “Turbo-Tourist” toward a decision to convert a $3,000 vacation into a $500,000+ investment, setting off a long term stream of economic output impact in the form of residential transactions, jobs (1.9 per new household), tax base, new business starts, etc.
Driven by the robust “birth mother” tourism, the Carolina In-migration Industry will deliver about 450,000 new faces and an estimated $30 billion to us in 2010. Demand increases every year and continues for the next 25 years... all incubated by a warm welcome, natural beauty and lower costs here. And, of course, 25 years of smart marketing by the North Carolina & South Carolina Departments of Tourism!
We estimate, from the research, that of the 80 million annual Carolina visitors, about 6 million are in the Turbo-Tourist (pleasure transient) segment. The vast majority come with very affluent net worth, skills and college degrees. We know 14% will start/move a business. National Change Of Address Audits report only 26% are over age 50.
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