Economy slows travelers

Because of the economy, fewer people are visiting the Cape Fear region, according to the Star-News.

More than 15,000 fewer commercial passengers have flown into or out of Wilmington International Airport this year. Through May, 311,852 passengers flew ILM, down 4.6 percent from 326,947 a year ago. Gary Broughton, ILM operations director, said discretionary travel is down because of the economy. But, he added, June’s numbers are looking up.

“I’m hoping now that schools are out the vacation travel might start picking it up pretty well,” he said. ...

From February through May, 49,026 vehicles took the Southport-Fort Fisher ferry across the Cape Fear River, down 13 percent from 56,234 in 2008. The ferry was shut down in January for maintenance.

The biggest hit to ferry travel is coming from out-of-state travelers. From February through May, 2,793 out-of-state vehicles crossed the Cape Fear River on the ferry, a decrease of 48 percent from 5,320 vehicles during that time last year, according to N.C. Ferry Division statistics.

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