tourism and the Economy

tourism

and the Economy

riverwalk Landing in Historic yorktown

CoUrtEsY oF YorK CoUntY

tourism continues to be one of Hampton roads’ most important industries, bringing significant outside dollars into the economy, which enables broad based regional economic growth. the tourism industry allows the region to ‘export’ its climate, beaches, and history to the rest of the nation. as with the port and defense industries in the region, the tourism industry developed in Hampton roads because of its unique competitive advantages, particularly its water and historical resources. the tourism industry is well developed within the region, having achieved a high level of maturity indicating that the opportunity for extensive employment growth is unlikely. norfolk’s Waterside District is the “premier dining and entertainment district” in conjunction with the U.s.s. Wisconsin and the norfolk tides. 757 Makerspace has expanded its presence at Fort Monroe to better serve the region and more particularly, the Virginia Peninsula. the new Fort Monroe location provides 12,733 square feet of creative space in an ideal setting just outside the moat of the historic fort at 16 Murray street. this has been a great opportunity to partner with the Hampton Economic Development authority (EDa), Hampton City schools, the Fort Monroe authority and the City of Hampton to expand opportunities for artists and makers in the region.

Events in Hampton’s venues fill the Virginia Peninsula hotels and are entertainment hubs for regional residents. Hampton experienced dramatic changes recently in Phoebus, and downtown Hampton will experience a new wave of redevelopment this year. the new Hampton Virginia aquaplex opens summer 2022. For more details visit: https://hamptonaquaplex.com/. newport news’ City Center at oyster Point continues to grow with more entertainment venues as restaurants, a movie theater. newport news’ first craft brewery, the ironclad Distillery, located in the downtown waterfront, produces boubon using Virginia-grown grains. norfolk’s Wards Corner area continues development with its current makeover.

Furthermore, developers are interested in the former Virginia Beach Dome site to feature an entertainment complex for both tourists and residents.

LOCAL TOURISm INDUSTRy

the local tourism industry follows the national and regional economy and thus national consumer confidence is closely followed by tourism professionals on both the Peninsula and south Hampton roads as a strong predictor of regionaltourism activity.

Virginia Beach, Chesapeake/suffolk and the other Hampton roads sub-segments were able to increase occupancy numbers, according to recently published smith travel research data. But the Beach held a commanding lead in the category that industry experts say is the prime indicator of hotel performance: revenue per available room, or revPar. revPar is a measure of how much cash the rooms are pulling in on average, factoring in the rooms that are unoccupied. High occupancy rates mean little if room rates are cheap, and high room rates mean little if only a handful are occupied.

fIVE DIffERENT mARKETS

smith travel research, a major source of tourism data, has divided the Hampton roads’ region into five distinct lodging markets: Williamsburg and newport news/Hampton on the Peninsula, and norfolk/Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, & Chesapeake/suffolk in south Hampton roads. the hotel data (which does not include timeshares) and the tourism employment data fail to capture the full impact on tourism. this data proves extremely difficult to access, and often estimates are made with surveys or other imprecise tools. While the previous paragraph noted the decline in hotel activity in Williamsburg, it is difficult to estimate how many former Williamsburg visitors now stay in Chesapeake or Virginia Beach and drive into Williamsburg for day trips, or how many of the Williamsburg visitors stay in the area’s 6,000 (approximate) time share rooms. the state has made estimates for expenditures by locality which have some value, but they are based off various tax receipts and thus are necessarily at least a year out of date. regional efforts to market Hampton roads as a destination are coordinated through the Coastal Virginia tourism alliance. Visit on the web www.visitcova.com. •