BEECH MOUNTAIN, N.C. — The pandemic has put a strain on many businesses, but one industry is actually seeing a boost in traffic. Beech Mountain Resort has seen a significant increase in business and this weekend is expected to be one of their busiest.
“MLK weekend and also Presidents’ Day weekend are historically very busy weekends," says Talia Freeman, Marketing Director at Beech Mountain Resort.
Freeman says every weekend has been pretty busy.
“The silver lining through this pandemic is that people are taking an invested interest in outdoor recreation,” says Freeman.
Freeman says people are also not traveling quite as far. A trip to Beech Mountain from Charlotte is only 2 1/2 hours. And it's not just weekends that are busy, but they've seen an increase in traffic during the week as well.
“A lot of our consumers, they have a bit more flexibility now with their weekday schedule, you know with remote learning and people working from home..," says Freeman.
But if you want to try and avoid the crowds, Freeman says Tuesdays and Wednesdays are typically slower.
Now, just like other businesses, the pandemic has caused them to take extra precautions to keep everyone safe.
“Mask mandate, we’ve increased all of our cleaning precautions across the resort. Sanitation stations and really just trying to make sure we keep people social distanced,” says Freeman.
So, you will need to pack your patience if you plan on taking a trip to the resort.
“Plan accordingly anywhere where you’re traveling. You know we’ve got capacity constraints in some of our restaurants right now, so we’ve been encouraging ya know parents to make sure you bring snacks, get here early and just be patient,” says Freeman.
Remember, Beech Mountain Resort is sold out this weekend, but if you’re interested in purchasing tickets, do so a couple of weeks in advance.