According to the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC), which released the 2023 regional economic impact reports last week, Danville and Pittsylvania County increased the economic impact of short-term visitation in the region by 49.39% year-over-year.
The two localities added $215.4M to the local economy and directly supported 2,028 local jobs which contributed $60.7M in direct local labor income during 2023.
The economic impact of tourism was also up across the Commonwealth. Statewide, tourism generated a record $33.3B in visitor spending, an increase of 10% year-over-year. This marked an important milestone for the state as Virginia officially exceeded pre-pandemic visitation levels for the first time marking a 14.7% increase in visitor spending over 2019 reports. This is positive news statewide. but local momentum is especially significant. By comparison, the City of Danville’s economic impact increased 73.1% over local 2019 pre-pandemic numbers.
In May of 2023, the Danville Office of Economic Development & Tourism officially launched the new regional tourism program and introduced a regional tourism brand, Visit SoSi. That same month, Caesars Virginia opened their temporary gaming facility. 2023 also brought the introduction of the region’s first-ever tourism master plan, kicked-off the new Danville Visitor Center reorganization, and saw the launch of a new regional tourism website, visitsosi.com.
During this same time span, the region’s new destination marketing organization, Visit SoSi, also invested in local front-line hospitality and customer service training, and introduced several new promotional resources designed to encourage local business owners and front-line service providers to proactively engage with visitors and help them find their way around the region and into the area’s many diverse businesses and attractions.
“We couldn’t be more excited about what is happening in our region,” Visit SoSi Tourism Manager, Lisa Meriwether said. “Tourism is proving to be big business in Danville and Pittsylvania County and the economic lift it is providing to local citizens seems to grow every single day. We are continuing to see increased interest, investment, and opportunity across the local tourism economy. I know that the same wonderful assets and attractions that are drawing visitors to the region are the very same attributes that make this region such a great place to live, work, and play. Word is getting out. We are a destination now, and it’s thrilling to see all this momentum continuing to build.”
VTC receives its annual economic impact data from Tourism Economics. The information is based on per-person domestic trips and visitor spending. Visitors were defined as those who traveled more than 50 miles to the destination or who stayed overnight during their travels.
Detailed economic impact source data and research methodology statements are available at vatc.org/research.