The fangs of those who work in the tourism and travel industry were bared last week, snarling at a county commissioner in Haywood who suggested the spending of the room tax money may need to be examined. One day, hopefully sooner than later, leaders in Western North Carolina everywhere will embrace tourism and travel for what it can do to help this region retain its culture and traditions.

Commissioner Bill Noland said at a budget hearing that the more than $600,000 collected in Haywood County in room taxes and then spent to promote tourism might help solve other budget problems. Noland, to his credit, did not say he was against tourism. And, in a subsequent meeting, he admitted that a lot of people might misunderstand tourism’s impact when they say it does not benefit them.

We certainly won’t say that everything that comes with tourism is beneficial to Western North Carolina. As has been well documented in this newspaper and others, there is an impact. Our landfills get full faster, our courts get overloaded, our police forces work overtime to deal with seasonal residents, we spend money on roads, and we are forced to build water and sewer lines to get to the new neighborhoods.

Perhaps the worst impact of all this is in property values. Counties and towns get more revenue, but low- and middle-income wage-earners are forced out of the housing market. If we are to embrace tourism, then we also need to work hard to ensure that affordable housing is available.

The pluses of tourism are plentiful, and the overall economic impact in WNC is staggering: Haywood — $100 million annually; Jackson — $50 million; Macon — $91 million; and in Swain — $52 million. Used correctly, this money will help us preserve mountain culture by keeping farmers in business, by keeping small businesses on Main Street healthy instead of becoming a land of big-box retailers, and by encouraging young entrepreneurs who value quality of life to open businesses.

But here’s the hard truth — manufacturing is gone and won’t be back. We waste economic development dollars chasing those kinds of jobs because they are, at best, obsolete and only a few short years from moving to another country. Agriculture is struggling but it can survive, albeit not on the scale it has been practiced in the past.

Some belittle tourism for its low-paying jobs and seasonal nature. Both true. But there is an impact that is seldom cited — the use of tradesmen and other businesses. The motel owner needs carpentry and electrical work done, has to buy air conditioners and furniture; the restaurant buys food and beverages, needs plumbers to keep the kitchen going; and the golf course needs mowers, fertilizers, cokes, cups, water hoses, etc.

In one respect Noland was right — the expenditure of money by different tourism groups should be examined. I’m sure those groups would be more than willing to detail their spending — the TDA already does — and listen to suggestions from the county’s elected officials. But the money needs to stay right where it is — promoting each county and the entire region, thereby putting money in the pockets of Western North Carolina’s families.