ROANOKE, Va. – Tourism in the Roanoke region reached an all-time high in 2024, generating nearly a billion dollars in economic activity and significantly lowering the tax burden for city residents, the head of the region’s tourism bureau told city leaders Monday.
During a briefing to Roanoke City Council, Landen Howard, president of Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge, said the region saw $928 million in direct and indirect tourism spending last year, with Roanoke serving as the primary driver of that growth.
“The 2024 calendar year produced the largest impact on tourism than at any point in our history,” Howard said.
Howard reported that tourism generated $25.5 million in local tax revenue for the city of Roanoke alone. He said that influx of visitor spending provides a direct benefit to residents by offsetting what they would otherwise have to pay.
“Travel and tourism lowers the tax bill for every household in the city of Roanoke, about $597, because we’ve got a dynamic travel and tourism industry and fresh, clean new dollars are coming in,” Howard said.
Despite the record success, Howard warned council members that the city is facing a significant challenge that limits future growth: a lack of hotel space.
“We’ve got a capacity issue, folks,” he said. “If I could get another Hotel Roanoke, built with conference center space, we would fill it up within two years. There’s no doubt in my mind the demand is that strong.”
Howard identified the region’s competition not as neighboring localities but as other major tourist destinations like Asheville, North Carolina, and the Poconos in Pennsylvania. He emphasized that regional collaboration is key to attracting a larger share of the market.
“Our neighbors that touch our borders, they’re not our competition,” Howard said. “Our job is to beat them out of market share… because we are the better vacation choice, in my opinion.”
Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge is funded by a portion of the local lodging tax, not by the city’s general fund.
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