Stays by displaced survivors of Hurricane Helene accounted for more than one-fifth of all hotel stays in Buncombe County at the end of last year, according to figures released this week.
The data provides further insight into the historic storm’s impact on the region.
Across Western North Carolina, thousands of families and individuals were left without a safe place to live after Helene wreaked havoc last September, killing 108 people and severely damaging the region’s housing, roads and infrastructure.
Many of those who were displaced by the hurricane were aided by FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program, which provided hotel rooms paid for by the federal government. In November, about 2,000 households in Buncombe County were participating in the TSA program, Assistant County Manager Tim Love said at an event hosted by the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce this spring. By early May, all had left the program.
During a meeting of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority this week, TDA President and CEO Vic Isley presented data on the impact of those hotel stays on the county’s hospitality sector.
At the program’s peak in November, hotel stays paid for by FEMA’s TSA initiative accounted for 22% of all Buncombe County hotel stays. The impact tapered to 21% in December and 18% in January, according to Isley’s presentation.
Those stays — combined with the impact of long-term corporate guests such as insurance adjusters, contractors and other recovery workers — helped mitigate some of the losses the hospitality industry sustained due to a sharp downturn in tourism.
Overall, total roomnight demand for the 2025 fiscal year – which ran from July 2024 through June 2025 – was only down 8% year-over-year, Isley said.
“So, given all of the challenges that we’ve witnessed together over the last year, to be down 8%, compared to some other hurricane recovery efforts or natural disaster efforts, it could have been a lot worse,” she said. “But we all know we’re struggling collectively.”
Many parts of the hospitality sector continue to struggle mightily. Among them is the vacation rental market, which includes properties available for short-term rent through websites such as Airbnb and VRBO.
In the first half of 2025, Buncombe County vacation rental revenue was down by 32% compared with the same period last year.
There are currently a little more than 7,000 vacation rental rooms available per night in Buncombe County, according to data provided by Smith Travel Research and AirDNA and presented at this week’s TDA meeting. That represents a sharp drop from the number’s peak of 9,306 in 2023.
Elizabeth Putnam, a realtor for Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty and a TDA board member, said that vacation rental occupancy was already “way down” prior to Helene and that some owners were already starting to offload their properties because the market was oversaturated.
“Then, Helene happened,” Putnam said at this week’s TDA meeting. “Some of those vacation rentals tried to put longer-term tenants in there. Some just decided to put them on the market and sell them. And that’s what we’ve seen a lot in the spring.”
