Tourism official: Houston County hotel revenue rose 1% in 2025, sports events drove room nights

Hannah Shiver presented Houston County’s 2025 tourism performance to the commission, saying the county’s lodging market grew by about 1 percent for the year. "The market grew by 1 percent equating to more than 9,100 additional room nights and contributing to approximately $52,200,000 in total hotel revenue across the county," she said.

Shiver said that growth occurred without new hotel supply and despite the loss of a corporate market driver. Sports tourism remained a major contributor: "In 2025, Dothan and Houston County hosted more than 80 tournaments and sporting events, generating over 66,000 room nights and nearly $20,000,000 in direct economic impact," she told the commission.

On marketing, Shiver reported that the county’s visitor promotion effort produced substantial digital reach, saying it "generated over 3,000,000 digital views with increased traffic to planning pages," noting much of that traffic came from outside Alabama. She left packets of the full data with commissioners and provided promotional items for officials to use.

When the chair asked about expected economic impact from an upcoming regional-sports facility and tournament schedule, Shiver said similar markets can host "3 to 4 of those a year" and estimated a conservative starting impact of about $4,000,000 for each year as partnerships and event recruitment build.

Shiver framed 2026 as likely to show measured growth consistent with national projections for similar markets and recommended continued coordinated programming and marketing to sustain event-related visitation. The presenter concluded by offering the commissioners the detailed packet she referenced and thanking them for their partnership.