BY CATHERINE KOZAK
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
KILL DEVIL HILLS - Watch out, Outer Banks. Some influential travel experts think you're losing your charm and, well, getting a bit ugly.
And what's the sense of traveling someplace that looks led light accessories just like lots of other places?
In a presentation on Wednesday sponsored by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, Jonathan Tourtellot, geo-tourism editor for National Geographic Traveler magazine, said that the Outer Banks, long renowned for its history, culture and environment, is in danger of being spoiled unless some quick back-pedaling is done .
Tourtellot, who is also the director of the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations, said that people travel away from home for three main reasons: touring, rest and relaxation, or entertainment.
He said the area is primarily a rest-and-relaxation destination. "But," he told the audience at Wright Brothers Centennial Pavilion, "what's important about this place is there's a lot of heritage and a lot of other cultural assets. That makes this different."
A global survey of more than 200 specialists in sustainable tourism and destination quality, published in March 2004 in the traveler magazine, gave the Outer Banks a score of 52, with 100 being the best. Experts rated the aesthetics and tourism management as bad and gave a warning on environmental conditions.
The evaluations were based on ecological quality, social and cultural integrity, condition of historic buildings, aesthetic appeal, quality of tourism management, and outlook for the future.
A survey the following year of North American destinations had similar results.
With giant houses taking over the horizon and chain restaurants and stores replacing the quirky mom-and-pop establishments on the Outer Banks, tourists are taking note, Tourtellot said as he read some of their recent comments: "junk tourism," "abuse of the word 'ecotourism' to promote visitation," "grossly overdeveloped," "massive second home development."
"The problems are not at all restricted to the Outer Banks," he said with a projected slide showing a close-up of a Civil War cannon at Gettysburg, Pa., that then widened to show an ordinary-looking subdivision behind it.
Defined as tourism that enhances the geographical character of the place being visited, geo-tourism is about taking care of what makes a location special: the food, the music, the arts, the livelihoods, the architecture, the festivals, the rituals, the stories, the views, the buildings, the natural world.
A crucial ingredient of geo-tourism is the well-being of the residents and their involvement in the community.
If an event is designed for locals, the tourists will enjoy it. If it's designed for tourists, though, the visitors will sense it and resent it.
By the same token, Tourtellot said, souvenirs sold in the shops should be products of the area and not imports.
Tourism becomes an unsustainable industry, he said, with overcrowding, loss of culture Fashion Clothing and loss of distinctiveness.
Referring to the razing in recent years of the Carolinian Hotel in Nags Head and the old Baum residence in Kill Devil Hills, native Outer Banker Carmen Gray noted that there seems to be no will to save the historical establishments that define the Outer Banks' past.
Gray is the daughter of Nellie Myrtle Pridgen and is a founder of the NMP Beachcomber Museum in Nags Head.
"There's money for all kinds of stuff," she said, "but there doesn't seem to be money to preserve these institutions. Why aren't we preserving the unpainted aristocracy? All these bright colors do not fit this beach.
"Our beach is about individuality, and we need very desperately to stick with that. But we're letting it go."
Tourtellot said that even with zoning in place, there's no guarantee that an area won't change. He advised that the best answer to restoring the identity of a tourist destination is communication within the community and between leaders and residents.
Dare County Commissioner Warren Judge said that citizens also need to speak up to their political leaders and tell them that preservation is important to them.
Chuck Ball, the mayor of Kill Devil Hills, said that "there's a huge debate that needs to go far beyond seafood and restaurants.
"How many more times will people from overcrowded places like Ohio and New Jersey come to a place that's overcrowded?"
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Reach Catherine Kozak at (252) 441-1711 or cate.kozak@pilotonline. com.