Consultant: Virginia Beach Convention Center generated $76M in local visitor spending in 2023; revenue covers 63% of operating costs

Adam Sachs of Tourism Economics (an Oxford Economics company) told Virginia Beach City Council that the city’s convention center generated $76 million in off-site visitor spending in 2023 and supported an estimated 814 jobs across the local economy.

Sachs, the consultant hired to benchmark the center, said his team limits the impact calculation to off-site spending by attendees — lodging, restaurants, shopping, transportation and recreation — and then models indirect and induced impacts through local supply chains and household spending. “$76,000,000 was spent by attendees to events at the convention center in the local economy in 2023,” Sachs said, adding the category breakdown included roughly $27 million in lodging, $24 million in restaurants, $10 million in shopping, $9 million in local transportation and $6 million in recreation.

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