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Virginia Tourism Corporation outlines growth in Gloucester visitor spending, supports regional DMO planning
Summary
A VTC destination manager told supervisors Gloucester tourism expenditures rose to about $47 million in 2023 and described grants and regional marketing work; staff and supervisors discussed the potential of the planned National Park site and local promotional priorities.
The Virginia Tourism Corporation briefed Gloucester County supervisors on recent tourism metrics, grant awards and planning work, and urged coordinated regional marketing through a proposed destination marketing organization (DMO) for the Middle Peninsula/Bridal Peninsula.
Laura Messer, destination development manager for VTC, told the board she worked with county staff on a tourism strategic plan completed in facilitated sessions in 2023–24. Messer said VTC and related funds have supported local efforts — nearly $225,000 in VTC grants to the locality and local organizations since 2022, and the Virginia 250 preservation fund awarded about $690,000 to local properties. Messer also noted a recent drive-tourism grant of $10,000 awarded for 2025 and said Gloucester’s 2023 visitor expenditures were about $47 million, a 9.4% increase over 2019.
Why it matters: tourism generates visitor spending that contributes local sales and lodging taxes; coordinated marketing and strategic planning aim to expand stays, recreation spending and support for local businesses.
Messer described the visitor profile: about 65.5% of visitors spend at least one night in Gloucester (the rest are day trippers), the average length of stay was 1.7 nights, and the top origin markets were Coastal Virginia/Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia. She recommended the county consider shifting some advertising to second- and third-tier markets to grow demand and noted that major planned assets — notably the proposed National Park site tied to archeological work — could be a significant future draw, though Messer said its opening timeline depends on federal funding and National Park Service planning.
Supervisors asked Messer for the methodology behind visitation and spending estimates; she said VTC uses Tourism Economics (a subsidiary of Oxford Economics), tax data and cell-phone-based “place” analytics to construct visitor profiles and offered to provide the county’s economic-impact matrix by email. Messer said a regional DMO in the planning district commission (PDC) is in process to unify marketing across the Bridal Peninsula.
Next steps: Messer will send the county the data matrix and the 2024 locality economic-impact numbers when released; county staff said they will continue discussions on a regional DMO and work with local partners on programming and funding.
