Western North Carolina Nature Center, the recipient of a $313,000 grant from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority through the Tourism Product Development Fund, celebrated a banner year in 2019.
The Nature Center ended the year with record-setting attendance: 181,130 guests visited during the year, an increase of about 43,000 over 2018. Home to more than 60 species of wild and domestic animals and hundreds of species of plants, all representative of the unique Southern Appalachian bioregion, the WNC Nature Center has enjoyed doubled attendance during the last decade.
The Tourism Product Development Fund comes from a portion of the occupancy tax paid by people who visit Buncombe County and stay overnight in commercial lodging facilities. Read the original grant announcement here.