Tourism up locally, but daytrippers aren’t staying over

By Bryan Gentry

Published: September 29, 2008

Tourists continue to visit the Lynchburg region, pumping millions of dollars into the local economy.

However, they are coming more and more from nearby regions, meaning they aren’t spending quite as many nights in local hotels.

Travelers spent $436 million in the Lynchburg area in 2007, 5.5 percent more than they spent in 2006, according to the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

But for more than a year, the occupancy rate at Lynchburg area hotels dropped consistently.

Gas prices and economic concerns get the credit for that.

“During this short-term down swing, we’ve been promoting ‘go local,’” said Beckie Nix, tourism director for the Lynchburg Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau.

She said people are more willing to stay close to home or to shorten a trip than to cut it out.

Rex Hammond, president of the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, said tourism continues even when the economy is down.

“In a bad year, when there’s investor uncertainty and high-priced gasoline, people still want to do things with their families,” he said.

The state as a whole benefits from a strong tourism economy, thanks in part to its proximity to the nation’s capital and historic sites.

“Virginia has always been a leading state in the country for tourism, because we have such a wide range of sites of … interest to travelers,” Nix said. “Virginia has so much to offer.”

In 2007 Virginia saw $18.7 billion in tourist spending, a 5.8 percent jump over 2006, according to the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

Some localities in the Lynchburg area have seen tourist spending grow faster than the state.

From 2006 to 2007, tourism spending increased by 7.7 percent in Lynchburg and in Amherst County, and by about 8 percent in Bedford County.

Even as gas prices climbed higher in 2008, local attractions continued drawing visitors:

w Point of Honor logged 1,947 visitors from April through August, a 22.7 percent jump from the same time in 2006, Lynchburg Museum System data shows.

The renovated museum, which re-opened in February, had more than 3,000 visits April through August. Half of the visitors signing the guestbook in July in August were from Virginia.

-The Jerry Falwell Memorial and Montview Mansion became visitor attractions this year. Paula Johnson, curator, said that more than 2,500 people signed the mansion’s guestbook from April through August. Thousands more have visited without signing the guestbook, she said.

-Nix, who directed the tourism program in the town of Appomattox until mid-August, said visitor traffic there was up 26 percent through July 8.

-Travel to the D-Day Memorial in Bedford dropped 8 percent this summer. Shannon Brooks, associate for research and publications, said increasing autumn visits could make up for the drop.

-Visits to Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest were up about 6 percent through the end of July.

Anna Bentson, director of public relations for the site, said that Virginia residents are comprising a greater share of Poplar Forest’s visitors this year, meaning that people could be staying closer to home as they travel.

Later in the summer, Poplar Forest began to see a drop-off in visits as gas prices remained high. Four bus tour groups have canceled tours, Bentson said.

“The recent decrease could be due to people making changes in their travel plans due to gas prices and the economy,” she said in an e-mail. “We’ve been expecting this to be an issue all summer, and it may be finally catching up.”

The economy could be catching up to hotel stays as well.

“If people have to buy gas and stay (in a hotel), that might be outside of their price range,” Hammond said.

Hotel occupancy rates in the region have fallen since the second quarter of 2007. In 2008 the second quarter area hotels saw just 51 percent occupancy.

Part of the decrease can be attributed to an increase in the number of rooms — more than 150 new rooms opened in the past year — without a corresponding increase in demand.

But some hotels are seeing increased business. The Craddock-Terry Hotel in downtown Lynchburg is “having the best month we’ve ever had in September,” said Hal Craddock, managing partner of the hotel.

The drop in occupancy rate hasn’t meant fewer lodging tax revenues. For Lynchburg city, lodging tax revenues were up nearly 9 percent for the fiscal year ending June 30, compared to the year before, according to the city’s commissioner of revenue.

Hammond said some efforts could help create more opportunities to attract overnight stays and beef up the hotel occupancy.

Earlier this year the city renewed a contract to have the chamber of commerce manage its tourism program. That contract will double the program’s funding over the next three years.

Hammond said that the increased budget will help market the region and keep more visitors coming in.