Richmond tourism posts stronger 2024; leaders cite lost conventions without headquarter hotel

More than 18,000,000 visitors spent nearly $4,000,000,000 in the Richmond region in 2024, and tourism officials said that represents about a 5% increase from the prior year, Catherine O'Donnell told the Organizational Development Standing Committee. “We are having a terrific trend in tourism and this fiscal year is continuing the same,” she said.

O'Donnell, who led the Richmond Region Tourism presentation, said tourism is an economic driver and a jobs creator: city tourism spending was up 8.2% for calendar year 2024, generating about $51,200,000 in local taxes and supporting nearly 9,000 jobs. She credited new and existing assets — notably the Allianz Amphitheatre — and a regional marketing approach covering seven localities.

“It's been such a driver,” O'Donnell said of the Amphitheatre, noting some events draw more than half their attendees from out of state and that those visitors spill into downtown hotels,…