Tourism in Virginia has largely recovered from the losses it suffered during the pandemic, with visitors spending a whopping $33.3 billion dollars last year.
That’s nearly 10 percent higher than 2022, according to a new analysis from the Virginia Tourism Corporation. Meanwhile, Virginia’s total visitor volume last year of 111.7 million was just shy of 2019’s 115 million.
The corporation tracked big gains in weekday and business travel, particularly in Northern Virginia, said VTC’s vice president of research and strategy Dan Roberts.
“I’ve seen hotel occupancies in Arlington over 90% on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday nights and honestly, that’s really what that market needs, just given the state of the remote workforce in that market as well,” he said.
Travel overall took a nosedive in 2020. While leisure travel has roared back for communities like Hampton Roads, business travel hasn’t recovered nearly as quickly, as many got comfortable swapping Zoom meetings for face-to-face trips during the pandemic.
It’s still not back to pre-pandemic levels, Roberts said, but business travel is where the most momentum is in the industry right now.
The influx in visitors resulted in thousands more travel-related jobs in the state, though employment in the sector is still about 15,000 jobs short of where it was in 2019.
And Virginia set a tourism spending record despite inflation pressuring travelers’ wallets.
“Even though prices are higher, we’ve basically returned to pre-pandemic levels in visitor volume, which is a great sign of health going forward,” Roberts said.
Inflation has, however, shifted what travelers actually spend their money on.
“What we’ve seen across the nation, and in Virginia as well, is a traveler preference for experiences and things to do, rather than things to buy,” Roberts said. “With inflation, (travelers) have had to make tough decisions regarding their budget. They’re still choosing to travel, but they’re being a little bit more selective.”
The data shows that restaurant and recreational spending have grown roughly 20% and 24% respectively past pre-pandemic levels, more or less keeping up with inflation, but visitors are making fewer trips to the gift shop.
Retail spending for visitors to the state was just about 6% higher in 2023 than in 2019, despite north of 20% price inflation over the same period.
Virginia is on pace for another strong year of tourism in 2024, with airports across the state reporting record-breaking passenger figures.
