In 2002, there were about 44.4 million visitors to North Carolina, with total travel expenditures reaching about $11.9 billion dollars. About 30% of all trips are made by residents traveling within the state. About 53% of visitors travel from the following states: Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New York, Maryland, and Ohio.
Tourists are attracted by North Carolina's coastal beaches, by golf and tennis opportunities (including the world-famous golf courses at Pinehurst), and parks and scenery in the North Carolina mountains. Sites of special interest are the Revolutionary War battlegrounds at Guilford Courthouse and Moore's Creek Bridge; Bennett Place, near Hillsborough, where the last major Confederate army surrendered; Ft. Raleigh, the site of the Lost Colony's misadventures; and the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk. With more than 500 golf courses across the state, North Carolina is often nicknamed the "Golf Capital of the World."
Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout national seashores, which protect the beauty of the Outer Banks, together cover 58,563 acres (23,700 hectares). The Blue Ridge Parkway, a scenic motor route operated by the National Park Service that winds over the crest of the Blue Ridge in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, attracts millions of visitors to North Carolina yearly. Another popular attraction, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, straddles the North Carolina-Tennessee border. There are more than 1.2 million acres of national forest land located in North Carolina, 1,500 lakes of ten acres or more, and 37,000 miles of freshwater streams.