MAKING WAVES: At this month's round table, our experts discussed the role of tourism in the state's economy and Tie challenge of recovering from two hurricanes.

• Position: TRAVEL AND TOURISM ROUND TABLE

HOW IS NORTH CAROLINA'S TOURISM INDUSTRY PERFORMING, AND HOW HAS IT BEEN AFFECTED BY THE HURRICANES?

TUTTELL Last year was great. Visitors to North Carolina spent $24 billion in 2017. That was up 4% over 2016, our ninth straight year of growth in visitor spending.

People actually spent more, but we didn't get more visitors. That's our big challenge, increasing the number of visitors. We're also seeing a real increase in the amount of product. We have talked about new hotels coming online. We think it's really important that we keep the demand up to meet those.

This year, through eight months, we were having another record year from what we can tell. Demand was up 2.3% over the record of last year. Room rates were up about 1.8%.

September changed what's going on in the state with the two hurricanes that passed through. It is really hard for us now to analyze how the state is doing because commercial lodging numbers are through the roof, and they're not being filled by visitors who are coming to spend money. They are being filled by evacuees and emergency workers. That's a big challenge. It's also a challenge for several of the tourism offices that generate funding based on occupancy taxes, because several of those taxes stipulate that if visitors stay for longer than three months, they don't pay the tax.

The perception that the state took a big hit is also a challenge. We believe it's cost us about $400,000 a day in lost business from people who have said they changed their plans and didn't come to North Carolina.

OLIVIA The governor's office released data that the impact of Florence is closer to $17 billion versus the $13 billion they had previously estimated. From a messaging standpoint, there was the perception that the whole state was impacted. We're seeing an impact even in Asheville. We're recovering in some locations, getting roads and parking lots and whatever rebuilt and strengthened. It takes a while to come back. Then the marketing work becomes twice as hard because you're getting over this little hump. That's what we're seeing.

WILSON We're at a disadvantage because we have 18,000 square feet of meeting space, but we only have 70 hotel rooms right now. Around us, the DoubleTree New Bern is closed until further notice due to Hurricane Florence, and the Blockade Runner in Wrightsville Beach is closed until spring for renovations following Florence. Because we have so much meeting space, we have been able to assume some of their...