Meetings and Conventions in Virginia Generated

$5.8 Billion in Direct Spending in 2023

Despite significant pandemic impacts, meetings and conventions visitation

fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2023

RICHMOND - Virginia Tourism Corporation announced today that meetings and conventions in Virginia generated $5.8 billion in direct spending in 2023, with $2.1 billion contributed solely by visitors. Meetings and conventions visitors spent nearly $6 million per day in Virginia last year. In 2023, 4.9 million people attended a meeting or convention in Virginia, with 2.5 million staying overnight, representing 6% of Virginia’s total overnight visitors.

Operational spending drove about $3.7 billion, or 64%, of direct impact from meetings and conventions, a comparatively larger share of the $5.8 billion relative to traditional visitor spending. Meetings operational spending includes hotel and venue financing and rental arrangements, staffing services, AV and production services, event management and marketing, technical support and IT services, and insurance policies sold for event coverage. The remaining 36% of impacts were from traditional tourism spending by meetings and convention visitors.

Meetings-related visitor spending grew by 14% from 2022, outpacing the total statewide visitor spending growth of 10%. Of the $2.1 billion in meetings and conventions visitor spending, lodging captured the largest share of visitor dollars at 42%, followed by food and beverage (30%), transportation (13%), retail (10%), and recreation (5%). Lodging and food and beverage spending saw the most year-over-year growth, each increasing by 15%, followed by recreation (14%), retail (12%), and transportation (9%).

In 2023, Virginia’s meetings and conventions sector directly employed 56,703 Virginians, generating $2.2 billion in income and driving $335 million in state and local tax revenues. The direct impact of lodging and property taxes alone at $157 million total in 2023 highlights the sector’s crucial role in generating revenue for local governments across the Commonwealth.

The meetings and conventions sector in Virginia experienced a significant decline in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a 72% drop in meetings-related visitation and a 73% decrease in meetings-related travel spending. Meetings and conventions visitor volume was essentially halted for two years and sat at less than half of pre-pandemic spending and visitation levels from 2020 through 2021. The meetings and conventions sector reached 2019 levels of spending in 2022, and meetings-related visitation finally reached full recovery in 2023, playing a crucial role in Virginia’s overall recovery from the pandemic.

"The resurgence of Virginia's meetings and conventions sector to pre-pandemic levels is an economic impact win that should be celebrated,” said Caren Merrick, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade. Generating $5.8 billion in direct spending and employing more than 56,000 Virginians, this sector is vital to our Commonwealth's prosperity. The $335 million in state and local tax revenues further emphasizes its importance in supporting our communities and enhancing the quality of life for all Virginians." 

“This recovery is a major milestone for our markets with large hotels, meeting spaces, and convention centers,” said Dan Roberts, Vice President of Research & Strategy for Virginia Tourism Corporation. “Meetings and convention visitors are core drivers of weeknight foot traffic in our downtown and convention center markets throughout the Commonwealth, benefitting our restaurants, retail, and recreational businesses.”

Northern Virginia, home to about one-third of the state’s hotel rooms and a high concentration of meeting spaces, accounts for roughly half (47%) of all meetings-related spending in Virginia. Coastal Virginia, centered around the Hampton Roads region accounts for 23%, followed by Central & Southern Virginia at 18%, which includes Richmond, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg. Western Virginia, inclusive of the Roanoke region, the Shenandoah Valley, and Southwest Virginia contributed 12% of meetings and conventions spending in the Commonwealth. However, across the regions of the study, meetings are a relatively constant share of all total regional spending. All regions benefit from meetings and conventions visitors.

“Investing in our meetings infrastructure and enhancing our competitive edge is essential for Virginia to continue thriving as a top destination for business and leisure,” said Joni Johnson, Director of Domestic Sales for Virginia Tourism Corporation. “Tourism stakeholders across the Commonwealth have cited insufficient meeting space and hotel rooms as key reasons for losing business to competitors. This underscores the need for investment in meetings infrastructure, marketing support, and hotel development to maximize future economic impact.”

Virginia Tourism Corporation collaborated with Tourism Economics to conduct this comprehensive impact study. For purposes of this study, meetings are defined as a gathering of 10 or more participants for a minimum of four hours in a contracted venue. This includes business events but excludes social, educational (formal educational activities at primary, secondary, and university level education), and recreational activities. Consumer exhibitions are included.

The economic impact of meetings and conventions was estimated using the regional Input-Output (I-O) model based on a customized IMPLAN model for Virginia, which also subdivided the Commonwealth into four regional areas for further measurement. The results of this study show the scope of the meetings and conventions sector’s impact in terms of direct visitor spending and operations, as well as total economic impacts, including employment, household income, and fiscal (tax) impacts.

For more information on VTC’s Economic Impact of Meetings & Conventions in Virginia and Future Outlook study, visit vatc.org/research/meetings-impact.

 

About Virginia Tourism Corporation

Virginia is for Lovers is one of the most iconic and recognizable travel brands in the world. Using that powerful brand equity, Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) is charged with promoting the Commonwealth as a premier travel destination by showcasing all there is to love in a Virginia vacation. The dollars spent by travelers fuel the economy, provide jobs for Virginians, and improve communities across the state. For more information, visit virginia.org.