Summer is officially over. Fall is officially here. But what a summer it was.
We can honestly say we have never experienced anything like this past summer. We’re still waiting for the August figures to come out—sometime in early October—but just the raw numbers for July show how popular the Outer Banks has become.
The numbers we have right now are just for Dare County—Currituck County where Corolla is located is slower in reporting their figures. Still, a 9.5% increase in occupancy along the northern Outer Banks after a record setting year in 2020 is pretty remarkable. And, overall, for the year occupancy is up almost 54%. Admittedly that is comparison includes the abysmal figures from the COVID restrictions of winter and spring of 2020, but it’s still an amazing figure.
Perhaps most encouraging is how strong the rebound in food and beverage has been on the Outer Banks Every month through July has been the best ever recorded for the industry, and it was really needed after 2020 when seating restrictions reduced sales by 16%.
It has been a difficult year. Getting all of our summer help housed was a challenge the like of which has not been seen in the past and restaurants, especially, were hard hit. Many of them had to close for one or two days a week even in peak season simply because there was not enough staff. Which really points to how strong food and beverage sales were this summer.
But we’re into fall now. Time to get out the surf board and catch some of those magnificent waves rolling in from the tropical systems churning out in the Atlantic. For a lot of surfers, fall is the best time to catch a wave on the Outer Banks.
Fall has so much to offer visitors. Check out our Brindley Beach Vacations listings and find the perfect home for an autumn getaway.