Up & Coming Weekly

August 02, 2016

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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8 AUGUST 3-9 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM The Fayetteville Area Conven- tion and Visitors Bureau booked more than 23,500 room nights at area hotels with a direct eco- nomic impact of $8.1 million in the fiscal year that ended July 31. In what amounts to an annual report, the FACVB also says the indirect rollover impact on our economy was $20.3 million. The direct economic impact is figured by the number of attendees of the groups booked by FACVB, multiplied by overnights and then by $114, explained FACVB spokeswoman Melody Foote. The $114 is the average nightly rate. "The rollover impact is the direct impact times 2.5 since the money turns over in the community 2.5 times," Foote added. The figures "don't include any leisure travelers or day trippers that come here," Foote said. All convention and visitors' bureaus are not-for-profit organizations primar- ily funded by local governments, usually through a portion of hotel occupancy taxes. An overnight visitor to Cumberland County pays a 6 percent occupancy tax and 6.75 percent sales tax. Occupancy tax revenue is divided three ways -- 1.5 per- cent to arts (Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County), 1.5 percent in support of the Crown Center Complex and 3 percent to the Tourism Development Author- ity. According to the NC Department of Commerce, in Fiscal Year 2012 Cumberland County occupancy tax collections reached just over $5 million. Of that amount $3.6 million went to the TDA. It funds the FACVB, whose mission is to promote the long- term development and marketing of Cumberland County as a destination, focusing on convention sales, tourism and service. And, of course, the agency directly supports the hospitality industry, which generates the tax revenue. The FACVB secured 3,754 listings for Cumberland County events in local, regional and travel trade websites and print publications. It handled 14,047 visitor inquiries at its three visitor centers. "In the last year, we added several touch points to our data collection to get a better understanding of visitors and their interests," said John Meroski, FACVB president and CEO. The visitor profile indicated that 23 percent of them were from North Carolina. Seven percent each visited here from New York and Florida, while 5 percent were from Virginia. As would be expected, 25 percent of visitors were visiting family and friends, many of them military. Seventeen percent were vacationers and 12 percent were here on business. Cumberland County has the eighth high- est level of travel expenditures of North Carolinas 100 counties. Visitors' top destinations included Fort Bragg, local museums, historic sites and dining. Cumberland County has 72 hotels, motels and ex- tended stay properties with 5,942 rooms. Currently, the county sees 160,000 overnight visitors per month. Rates for nightly stays vary from day to day. They range from $50 a night at older motels along U.S. 301 S, to $198 for two-room suites at Embassy Suites and Residence Inn. In 2012, the Fayetteville Regional Chamber stated that leisure and hospitality is Cumberland County's fourth largest industry. NEWS Tourism, Conferences and Hospitality Energize Fayetteville Economy by JEFF THOMPSON Cumberland County has the eighth high- est level of travel expenditures of North Carolinas 100 counties. JEFF THOMPSON, Senior News Reporter. COMMENTS? news@upandcomingweekly. com. 910.484.6200. It takes getting used to, but the local highway road signs now refer to Pope AAF, not Pope AFB. That's Pope Army Airfield, not Pope Air Force Base. The grounds and facilities are now part of Fort Bragg. The Air Force unit coming the closest to identifying with what we remember as Pope Air Force Base is the 43rd Air Mobility Operations Group commanded by Col. Kelly Holbert, 45, a 22-year Air Force veteran. He's a command pilot with many years of experience flying C-130 Hercules transport planes. That's ironic because Pope lost all of its troop carriers when it was converted to an army airfield. The 43rd replaces the 440th Airlift Wing. Holbert's unit is unique in the continental United States, he says, owing to the fact that it supports the 82nd Airborne Division. It provides army airborne support capabilities such as combat airlift, joint forcible entry and command and control. The group also serves the needs of XVIII Airborne Corp and Special Forces. Holbert served at Pope 20 years ago and says it feels no different today. He tells Up & Coming Weekly there is an "incredible amount of joint support between the Air Force and the Army here. At our level there is tremendous interaction and cooperation," he said. "I have personal relationships with all three brigade combat team com- manders." Nine hundred airmen are assigned to the 43rd Air Mobility Operations Group. With the inactivation of the 440th Airlift Wing in September, it will be one of four Air Force units assigned to Pope Field. Other Air Force tenants are the 19th Air Support Operations Group, 432nd Combat Control Squadron and the 21st Special Tactics Squadron. One of Holbert's squadrons provides administrative and human resource needs for Pope's other units which together comprise 2,000 airmen. Col. Holbert took command five weeks ago, just in time to help coordinate an 82nd Airborne Division Emergency Deployment Response Exercise in which paratroopers were airdropped over Fort Polk, Louisi- ana. "It went very well," said Holbert. It was the first joint Army / Air Force exercise in which no Pope-based aircraft were used. A larger maneuver actually began days earlier during what's called a Battalion Mass Tactical Week simulated military operation. Most of the planes used in the exercise were flown in from across the country. 82nd Airborne paratroopers were loaded into nice C-17 aircraft from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. A few C-130s were also used during the exercise. Six aircraft flying in three-ship formations made roughly 96 passes over Fort Bragg's Sicily Drop Zone, airdropping over 4,700 paratroopers, six howitzer artillery combos, two Humvees and several other pieces of heavy equipment and cargo, said Lt. Col. William McDonald, the mission commander. Without notice, participants had to shift their atten- tion from the BMTW to the Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise. "This is the first time we have rolled a BMTW into an EDRE in order to test our ability to plan… inside of 96 hours," McDonald said. Planning for the EDRE began July 12 while the MASS TAC was underway. Aircraft began launching on July 16, said Lt. Col. Ben Russo, 18th Air Force deputy chief of combat operations. The transition was significant because it doubled the teams' work and required them to plan a larger exercise while still running another, which is no easy feat. "This highlights our commitment to the 82nd Airborne and their mission," McDonald said. Army and Air Force Working Together by JEFF THOMPSON Col. Kelly Holbert

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