The Mirror thanks you for comments on Tourism

Last week the Mirror published an article “Is Tourism Killing Cape Charles?“. While the article posited one view, the title was posed in the form of a question, essentially asking for input on this issue.

The Mirror wants to thank everyone that contributed either on the newspaper site itself or on Facebook and Twitter. Your input is very important.

It is a multi-faceted question, but one that is fundamental to living in Cape Charles.

This year, the town passed an $8 million dollar budget, and it did so without raising taxes. This could not have been accomplished without the revenue generated by the visitors that come here to have fun. The transient occupancy, sales and meals taxes they generate so far have allowed us to grow and prosper without imposing onerous tax increases on the citizens.

And as our friend Scott Wivell pointed out on our Facebook page, tourism is driving the job market in Cape Charles. Every business in town is hiring.

These are all good things.

On the contrary, there are some folks that find the number of tourists overwhelming and disruptive to their lives here. It was also noted by some that while there was this huge fight over the County’s 2015 zoning, using the mantra, “Don’t turn us into Virginia Beach or Ocean City”, some of the same folks are more than happy for that to happen, on a smaller scale, to Cape Charles.

That is the fundamental dichotomy: is the alteration of life in Cape Charles worth the revenue that tourism brings in?

Thanks for weighing in. The Mirror would love to publish an Op-Ed on this subject, either pro or con.

About the Author

Wayne Creed

Administrator

View All Posts