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Visit Williamsburg reports lodging growth, sports bookings and new booking tech pilot
Summary
The Williamsburg Tourism Council reported a 6.7% increase in transient lodging tax in the latest period, growth in hotel weekend occupancy, bookings for the new Greater Williamsburg Sports and Events Center and a pilot to add a booking engine to visitwilliamsburg.com.
Ed Harris, chief executive officer of the Williamsburg Tourism Council (VISIT Williamsburg), told the James City County Board of Supervisors the organization closed 2024 with growth in lodging tax collections and weekend hotel occupancy, and he outlined marketing and product developments expected to boost future visitation.
Why it matters: tourism and events drive hotel stays, meals and sales taxes in the Historic Triangle; expansions in sports bookings and new attractions could shift visitor patterns and sales-tax receipts for James City County and neighboring jurisdictions.
Harris said transient lodging (the local “lodging tax”) increased about 6.7% year over year in the most recent data presented. He told the board hotels and motels sold roughly 18,000 more room nights in the fourth quarter of the prior year compared with the same quarter in 2023, while overall calendar-year hotel/motel business was broadly flat as visitation shifted among lodging types (hotels, timeshares, short-term rentals and campgrounds).
VISIT Williamsburg launched a mobile “Historic Holiday Pass” in the fourth quarter, Harris said, and the pass had nearly 2,000 downloads; the organization plans a second rollout in 2025. He also reported recent month-to-month occupancy increases for January and February compared with the same months a year earlier, and cautioned that weather (snowstorms) can affect short-term trends.
On sports and events, Harris said VISIT Williamsburg and regional parks partners have secured many outdoor tournaments for April through August and already have confirmed bookings for the Greater Williamsburg Sports and Events Center in 2027, including gymnastics and basketball events expecting more than 1,200 athletes per event. He said several indoor tournaments have reserved multiple weekends and that the new facility should help smooth seasonal declines in lodging demand during January–March.
Harris described an ongoing partnership to add a booking engine from a vendor called Ripe to visitwilliamsburg.com to allow visitors to see hotel rates and create event-specific landing pages. He also highlighted new attractions opening this year — including Busch Gardens’ “Wolf’s Revenge” coaster and Water Country’s “High Tide Harbor” additions tied to Busch Gardens’ 50th anniversary — and cited a major Michelangelo art exhibit at the College of William & Mary in March–May as an additional spring draw.
Board members asked about timeshare data and about outreach to hotel general managers. Harris said hotels report monthly data to industry trackers but timeshare operators are not required to share monthly sales data; VISIT Williamsburg is digging into multiple sources to better estimate timeshare activity. Harris also said a March 5 meeting of local hotel general managers and a March 19 sports-advisory committee meeting are planned to align stakeholders.
Ending: Supervisors praised the organization’s outreach and booked events; the presentation was informational and no board action was requested.
